The MON team
by writer of chaos
Summary: A few years ago, a group of elite people was trained to respond to specific crimes commited by specific individuals. They serve as a security squad and protect both humanity, and monsters. If you have a problem (with extra-species people) and call them, they'll help you out too. They are...the M.O.N. team. Rated T for suggestive scenes and some violence. (Rating might change.)
1. The Night of The Living Girl

Author's notes: Greetings, my loyal readers, as well as all newcomers. I have found myself with a peculiar idea that kept punching it's way into my head from time to time. Just how did the M.O.N. taskforce come to be as we know it today? Here is my attempt at answering this question, non canon, of course. I, as usual, do not own any known characters from the manga or anime titled Monster Musume no iru Nichijou, except for my own ideas of new characters, who were not featured in either original works of art so far. As always, I hope you enjoy this story, read and review if you'd like and I wish you a nice time reading overall.

* * *

It was a quiet night, like few others in the past few weeks. Smith liked these nights. On these rare occasions, she could almost forget about the city outside. The city under her protection. Well, concerning a large sum of the mamono entry into Japan, rather. She was a coordinator in this exchange program, so she was most often tasked with work, in her opinion, more befitting a slave in terms of quantity. It was rare for her to even get some nice coffee with that nice young man and his lamia exchange student, let alone enjoy an entire evening to herself, off from duty and out in her home city. Except, tonight was not really one of those nights.

„Coordinator Smith!" an angry, rather impatient voice called into the phone as she held it to her ear. A voice she knew all too well to realize she could wave her goodbyes to that peaceful evening she wished for. It was the police chief. And, like always, he needed help.

Not that it was anything new. Smith was often tasked with helping the work of the police with concerns raised about the new interspecies laws, which supposedly varranted the large amount of sudden and rather impatient phonecalls demanding she appear for duty during her off times these days. With a sigh, she agreed to join the chief as soon as possible, the hung up, taking a sip from what she previously thought to be her last coffee for the day. Well, this is a new system. It will eventually settle into its rightful place and people like her will have less to worry about, not to mention, less overtime to do, after a while. At least that thought kept her optimistic, if not really enthusiastic during her working hours.

* * *

The coordinator's shoes clicked against the hard floor of the main hallway leading into the chief's office. There she was, ready for duty on this nice, seemingly peaceful evening. With a sour expression on her face, disguised with a neutral one, as well as her sunglasses. Oh, how she hated these times. Not that she liked most of the other aspects of her job, seeing as it was more of a mandatory task to handle interspecies relations, rather than something she volunteered for. And the money she received for her work was barely enough for it to even be called minimal wage. 'The feeling of accomplishment while doing such a great service for one's country should compensate for any irritation from financial problems, agent.' Her boss would always say, once he spotted the frown on her face upon receiving the news of yet another request for a pay raise being rejected. „Yeah, you can take that feeling of accomplishment and stuff it, Aho. Say that to people, who are paid more than me." The woman murmured to herself.

Upon reaching the chief's office, the woman could already hear the loud argument going on inside. Quietly opening the door, slipping inside and leaning against the wall, as she listened to the amusing dialogue going on between the man and someone Smith recognized as one of the politicians responsible for the interspecies relations act. Of course. What else would she be called in if not this again? Though, it was amusing to observe the disagreement between the two men. While the chief argued that law enforcement should not be 'hogtied' by a diplomatic treaty seeking to preserve peace between nations and species, but each argument he attempted to use was always subdued by the politician's mention of the sad fact, that since the law was created in such a rushed manner, it still describes any violent behavior against extra species people by humans as a crime, no matter who commits it and vice versa. As humorous it was, Smit herself had to admit it was a sad truth. Loopholes could be and always were exploited in every law, so she could understand the irritation expressed by the police on numerous occasions.

„A-anyway, that is what I called age-I mean-coordinator Smith here as well. She can explain from her personal experience that there are problems with the law that need to be fixed. Soon." Suddenly, the chief said, gesturing towards the black haired woman, drawing the other man's gaze onto her in the process. „I have worked with her on several occasions and she too shared my views on your...work with this law." He said, taking the almost empty coffee mug from his desk and taking a short sip, sighing as the politician now focused on Smith for information.

„Well, I can certainly say that there are mistakes with the law. That makes enforcing the law itself harder, so I agree that some changes should be made." She began, seeing the policeman nod in approval, as well as his talking partner taking on a frown of frustration, thinking he would receive the same thing the two of them have been arguing about for possibly hours, if not more. But then, Smith said something different. „However, I also understand that it will take time and effort to make changes that could actually fix our problems, not leaving loopholes behind." The coordinator pointed out, putting a hand to her mouth to appear in thought, lest she communicate her desire to leave this room immediately. „So for the time being, we can do little more than work hard to uphold the order until the mistakes are corrected." She explained, earning a small, uncomfortable nod from both men.

„Still, to end up in a situation similar to Lethal Weapon 2? Disgraceful." The police chief replied with a sigh, for once earning a nod from the politician too. For all the disagreements on how the changes should be made or how quickly they should be implemented, the two at least agreed on the fact that they were much needed, Smith thought.

Suddenly, someone tapped her arm and the coordinator looked at the young officer standing next to her, taking notes swiftly. "Uh, what happened in Lethal Weapon 2?" He asked, prompting a sigh from Smith. "The villain uses his diplomatic immunity to escape the police when they already have evidence that he is guilty. The chief is a big fan of the series. I wonder why."

Nevertheless, as the situation only called for her opinion, she frowned slightly that she was called in for solving a simple argument. From his tone during the phone call, the woman assumed the entire police station was attacked by Jiang-Shi or something similar. „So, if that will be it, I shall take my leave, chief. If that is okay with the both of you." She almost asked, rather than said it, glancing at both men in search of confirmation that she could leave them to their own devices.

„Of course, thank you for your help in the argument, coordina-... huh?" The chief began to say, when suddenly, a loud noise interrupted his sentence. It was like a siren, loud and grating to the ears, which perfectly served its original purpose. To inform all of those inside of the danger approaching. „The alarm!" Smith exclaimed, reaching for her handgun and moving out through the door in order to check what the alert was about. She did not care if either of the two men wanted to say something else, as she wasn't under the chief's command and she had a feeling that this was more her department, rather than the simple officers stationed here. An attack on this place simply made no sense, not to mention that the coordinator could simply feel this was not an everyday criminal attack or gang activity. Somehow, she could tell this would be her job to deal with.

Upon reaching the lower floor, Smith was shocked to see what a battleground the ground level was turned into. The main doors were broken down, as if a battering ram was shot into it from a cannon. The floor was littered with bullet casings and discarded firearms and batons, as well as some unconscious officers, while the people still standing did their best to try and hold down a lone woman. To say that the black haired woman was shocked to see a single person knocking out one trained officer after the other, would have been an understatement. She could not understand how she managed it, but the attacker seemingly ignored all hits from batons and bullets, knocking out one opponent after another. Her body moved with seemingly superhuman speed, strength and precision, allowing her to even disarm some of her opponents and use their weapons against them. It almost seemed like-…then it hit her, as soon as she noticed the stitches, the discoloured eyes whenever the woman turned towards her and her seemingly superhuman abilities. Smith knew what to do. Or at least what this woman was now.

„Hey!" She exclaimed as she approached the stranger, drawing her attention away from the officer she was about to slam to the ground, aiming her handgun at her head. "Drop the...uh…policeman and put your hands up, miss. What you are doing is against the interspecies act and therefore, illegal. I'd like you to stand down and allow the authorities to take action." Smith spat her protocol phrases, hoping that this would work. Though, she wasn't sure that talking could discourage someone, who shrugged off baton strikes and as she saw it, even bullets. And she was proven right, as the arms continued to slam the poor man against the floorboards, earning a groan from him, before the woman slowly, almost as if she was unsure, turned and began advancing towards the coordinator. Yeah. Great.

The gun was fired at the assailant, aiming at the legs instead of it's original target, the head, in order to wound, but not kill. Seemingly shrugging off every single bullet impact, the woman suddenly ran at Smith, launching her fist right at her face, with the intent to kill if necessary clearly visible in her eyes. With a quick dodge to the side, the government agent grabbed the wrist of her opponent, using her own momentum against her to launch the scarred body into one of the desks, crushing it upon impact. Brushing some dust off of her suit jacket, Smith took up a combat stance, ready to wrestle the mamono into submission, if she needed to. 'I don't recognize her. She's either a runaway from someone else or a newcomer. Great, just what I needed.' She thought, taking a deep breath.

Her brain searched for a good way to settle this without killing the attacker and seemingly found the right was, as the unknown assailant slowly got to her feet and continued advancing towards the coordinator, tilting her head slightly, as if to study Smith's appearance. Then, one of her fists shot forward again, this time with speed and strength only allowing the agent to dodge to the side and roll away.

"Quick, someone give me a tazer!" Smith called out to the still conscious officers. Her opponent immediately turned around, grabbing one of the chairs in the process and slamming it against the woman's quickly raised defensive arm, knocking her back and down to the ground with a sickening crack and a yelp of pain from her.

Advancing on her enemy with a slow, steady pace, the red haired woman looked down on the coordinator, raising her makeshift weapon to most likely strike a lethal blow. This was bad. Nothing was working on her it seemed and it did not appear that trying to reason with the girl again was a valid way to settle the situation. And, taking from the strength she slammed the chair against her forearm that the metal broke the bone, Smith could easily imagine a blow to the head from that would be deadly. She did not imagine her career ending this way, but Hell, at least she did some good to monsters, who deserved it. That's it. She was here, raising that thing above her head. Those dead eyes fixed onto the black haired woman, her arm getting ready to slam the deadly instrument against her head.

And then…

A small thing hit her right thigh and upon looking down, Smith noticed it was a police tazer thrown by one of the others. Not waiting for her opponent to continue, the coordinator grabbed it, turned it on and immediately jammed it against the thigh of the girl, earning a loud, almost scream-like yelp from her, as the electricity ran through her body for a time, until Smith withdrew the weapon, prompting her attacker to drop the chair and fall limply to the ground, seemingly dead. The black haired woman let out a breath she had no idea she was holding, as her eyes scanned the limp, corpse-like body of this strange girl, sighing in relief, then immediately hissing in pain, as her broken forearm was pressed against the desk she sat against on accident. So not all of the others were neutralized in the attack. Just in time.

After a few seconds, two officers came running into the room, handguns raised, checking on the unconscious assailant and the coordinator herself. One of them helped her up, while the other, with tremendous effort, grabbed and pulled the red haired girl up, after cuffing her hands behind her in an effort to contain her, if she woke up.

„That won't do for long when she wakes up, trust me. I suggest you use something stronger." Smith told the policeman, patting the back of the one that helped her up, signaling her gratefulness and the fact that she did not need help standing. Only her forearm was broken, afterall. „Do you have any of those new experimental cuffs designed for stronger human sized monsters, like Jiang-Shi or zombies? You will need that with this one." She explained, gesturing towards the innards of the station, prompting one of the officers to rush away to get it, while the other deposited the knocked out body onto a chair, hoping for their lives the girl would not wake up before being cuffed with stronger equipment.

„What… what _is_ she, coordinator?" The remaining officer asked, scratching his head in confusion. „She looks…relatively human, though taking from how she messed up the place, I doubt she is. But what mamono looks like this?" Instead of an explanation, Smith merely pointed at the various stitches on the sleeping girl's body, earning a nod and a confused shrug from the policeman.

„She is a special type of undead, taking from her appearance, as well as combat abilities. And the way she responded when I talked to her. She is what most coordinators call „Frankensteins" but she is closer to a zombie. Only, usually, girls of this species have a higher level of intelligence than you'd expect from most zombies." She continued with the explanation, putting her left hand to her mouth in thought, tilting her head. „From what I've seen, she has only recently been raised from the dead and therefore, is not entirely content with her new life…unlife. What matters is, this often causes confusion, blind fury and a general loss of sense, until calmed and reintroduced to the world. Memories are more often than not lost, with small glimpses remaining, so don't even try to ask her where she came from or how she came to be like this."

„But if she's an undead, how come you could you knock her out with the tazer?" The officer asked, upon spotting the three small darts still embedded into the shoulder of their opponent. "I mean, zombies don't exactly have something to stun that could take them out, so how?" He asked in confusion, prompting a small chuckle from Smith. "Just like in the movies, the brain controls everything. The one big thing controlling everything in her body. She can't be tranqed, yes, but if you use enough electricity in the right spot, the shock reaches her brain and overloads her nervous system, prompting a blackout long enough for us to take…'preventative measures.'" She concluded, letting out a sigh. "Yeah, they don't tell you these things unless you join the exchange security, usually."

After the policewoman returned with the larger handcuffs, that seemingly looked like they were an entire straightjacket in and of themselves and attached them to the arms of the girl, making them overlap the cuffs originally put on her wrists, the coordinator allowed one of the arriving paramedics to set her arm with splints, put it in plaster and some other thing the woman could not quite pay attention to. Luckily, the bone did not need surgery, seeing as it did not break into shards and could easily be treated without a trip to the hospital necessary. Not like Smith would have allowed anything like that. Not now, at least. She needed to stay here. She had work to do. And she needed to be the one to do it.

For all her laziness and ability to escape her tasks as often as she could, even her superiors had to admit that when it came to understanding mamono behavior, Smith was better than anyone else. She understood not only mamono, but people in general, seemingly as soon as she met them, perfectly. She had a talent with this. So, to solve this situation without an additional bloodbath or any irritation between the police force and the undead community, she was needed. And an idea was forming in her head on how to solve this. A ridiculous idea, but an idea none the less.

* * *

After about an hour of waiting, the uninvited guest slowly opened her eyes and looked around, a confused and scared expression on her face. She still felt slightly dizzy from the three tranquilizer shots Smith unloaded into her body, but she still had enough strength to strain against her confines, letting out a few sounds that seemed to signal things between surprise, confusion, fear and anger, as well as a strong desire to be set free again. But Smith had no intentions to do that. Instead, she approached the girl and crouched slightly so the two of them would be eye level to each other. She looked the undead over, noting her outfit of a black tank top, a brown jacket, blue jeans and brown boots. At least her style matched her nature, if she was honest.

"Hello. Don't worry. You will not be hurt. Please, calm down. Do you understand me?" She asked, though she was quite unsure she could be 'hurt' in the usual sense, seeing as zombies could not feel pain usually. Nevertheless, she wanted to comfort this girl. "I know you feel confused and lost, but please, I can help you. My name is Smith and I help people like you." She said, taking off her sunglasses and looking into the undead's mismatched eyes with a soft smile, taking on a persona she did not use often. It was unneeded most of the time. Yet, she seemed to be good at this, seeing as the girl slowly nodded, looking back into her eyes, her own unblinking red and green orbs flashing with newfound curiosity.

"I'm sorry, but you are, in a sense, dead. That is why you can't remember anything and why your body is like this." She continued, noticing a small wince on the face of the undead girl, but after a nod of understanding, she smiled slightly, before taking on a serious expression again. "I'm sorry. I cannot undo what happened to you, but I can help you find yourself a new place in this world. If you would like, of course. I can enlist you in a program that can give you a home, and if you'd like, a purpose." She said, earning a tilt of the undead's head and her eyes averted in thought.

The undead contemplated her situation. As Smith saw, she had nothing to lose and lots to gain from her idea. She could help her out, either by giving her a home at a host if her idea didn't work, or… seeing as her strength was at superhuman levels, while her cognitive abilities seemed to be equal to humans, could be very useful for the exchange security.

Then, after a time, she received another nod. Smiling, Smith gently patted her shoulder, rising back. "You can take off the cuffs." She told the policemen, who went to remove the bindings, much to the dismay of the chief. "Are you insane, coordinator? If we let her go, she-" He practically fumed, clearly wanting the undead to be buried instead of released. "I will be personally responsible for her. I will be taking over this case and taking care of it, so don't you worry about her." Smith interrupted, prompting the officers to resume their work in freeing the chained undead. After she was released, she turned around slightly, rubbing her wrists and looking at the policemen with an apologetic look. "See?" The coordinator questioned, putting her sunglasses back on and proceeding to walk outside, gently grabbing the undead by the shoulder and leading her outside, towards her own car, leaving the chief to sigh and turn his attention to assessing the damages.

"Don't worry about them. I'll take you to a safe place." She said, opening the door for the undead, then closing it after she sat in. After getting in herself, she asked, while starting the car. "I need to ask you, though, can you remember your name? I know your memories of your former life must be almost nonexistent at this point, but can you remember anything? Maybe I can find out why you became what you are today." She asked, driving them away. She received a firm shake of the head as an answer, though, as the zombie girl looked out through the window, as if in thought. Then, she turned back toward the coordinator suddenly, a newfound determination on her pale face.

"I…I can't remember my name... you know what... call me... call me Zombina." she said with a grin.


	2. Looksoff

*Bang* *Bang**Bang*

The loud noises of a handgun firing could be heard echoing throughout the firing range. Only two people were present. One had a black jacket and tie over a white shirt with a black skirt and stockings, writing down small notes onto a notepad, observing the other person's performance, who at the time, was taking shots at specific targets with a submachinegun, piercing one after the other in rapid succession, switching between singular shots and short bursts from time to time, based on the other's instructions.

This was getting easy for her. Zombina was becoming more and more capable with close range weaponry. Smith trained her with handguns, submachineguns, sniper rifles, shotguns and melee weapons and she seemed to have a talent for most, except for long range rifles and melee weaponry, with her favorites being submachineguns. In fact, as Smith noted, in the ten days she has been living at the cultural exchange security squad's headquarters, she showed an interest in movies, wishing to experience this culture that was so strange to her since her new life started. Most of all, she liked action movies, with a preference for ones that had either zombies or guns in them, favoring scenes where the main character held one gun in each hand, taking on a style for herself, which included her using two machineguns. Smith had to admit it, she has become quite effective with it in such a short time.

However, this gave the coordinator certain ideas about what Zombina's origins could have been. She seemed adept with firearms and as she noticed, had an affinity for military tactics, so what Smith could guess was an army background or possibly something connecting her to security. A search she conducted in order to find traces of anyone similar to the redhead proved to be useless, but she did not give up. She would either find a way to uncover her new agent's past, or if not, then find a way for Zombina to live a happy life without the knowledge of her past before her undead existence. She would do her best to help her new…"friend."

They were about to move on to another round of hand to hand combat training, when a loud noise drew the black haired woman's attention towards the small piece of equipment in her pocket, as a report came in, directed to all agents of the security squad. Upon checking it, it revealed a report on instances of mysterious identity theft, many people losing a lot of money and recorded instances of attempted and most often seemingly successful impersonations. The woman rubbed the bridge of her nose with an irritated sigh, having an idea on who or what this person could be.

"Zombina." She called out to the undead, who was right about to switch to a pair of handguns, holding one in each hand, aiming and shooting, while waiting for Smith to say the word that tells her to switch or stop. She turned, tilting her head inquisitively, as she holstered the two firearms and approached the coordinator. "We have a mission to do, come with me." She heard the woman speak and responded with a small grin, revealing her sharp teeth.

"So, what's the job, 'boss'?" The undead girl questioned, raising an eyebrow, as her hand reached for one of the shotguns instinctively, earning a small, dismissing hand wave and a beckoning gesture, as the two exited the firing range.

"No need for heavy weaponry at all. We aren't hunting. This will be a search and capture mission. Or search and subdue." With a short sigh, the explanation came on the way to the car, coupled with some annoyed complaints from the redhead, saying they were being sent on "fetch-quests" but she accepted it slowly on their way to the 'crime scene.' The mission included the capture of a certain unknown individual, who has committed at least a dozen identity thefts in the past month and who was deduced by the police to be an extra species person, not human, seeing as the modus operandi was unique, but far too quick for a human being. Targets were chosen almost immediately, their credit cards or wallets were stolen, along with some form of personal identification objects and less than an hour later their bank accounts were emptied, with the money disappearing completely. No transactions, no other accounts the money was transferred to, only a trail of victims.

After a short drive through the city, they met a young woman named Yoko Kiryu, who told them step by step how her wallet disappeared and a mere fifteen minutes later, her bank account was empty.

"Whoever took it went to the bank and took all of my money from the account. When I went to ask the bank employees, they said I did it myself." The woman ended her tale of tears, prompting a short sigh from Zombina, who watched and felt rather bored, as Smith took notes of the crime, already thinking about any leads the memories of the latest victim might hold. "And they even showed me the security footage to prove I was in there, but I couldn't have. I was with two of my friends at a café, while all this happened. They will testify if necessary." Yoko finished, putting a hand to her forehead and sighing. The culprit apparently took 200,000 yen with them and left Miss Kiryu penniless. "You have to find them, Ms. Coordinator." She begged Smith.

"Alright, don't worry. We've called you out to meet us here because we might be able to catch this person today. This seems to be their preferred hunting ground and with your help, we may be able to arrest them here and now and return your money." Smith said, putting a soft hand on the victim's shoulder, while removing her sunglasses and looking directly into her eyes. Time to work her magic and use her way with people. "So, you told me that you don't know when the theft might have occurred, as you were with friends. It must have been before 9:55 a.m., seeing as that was the time your money was withdrawn. Do you remember anything beforehand? Bumping into anyone, who might have taken it? Maybe leaving your things somewhere other people could've gotten to them? Anything?" She asked, gazing into the young mother's eyes.

After a short time of thinking, Kiryu's eyes widened and she exclaimed. "Oh! I remember. There was this young girl, who ran into us and almost knocked me over. She had...uh…long, black hair and…uh…umm…a white and green outfit…similar to a high-school uniform." The middle aged woman said, squinting slightly as she did her best to remember this seemingly unimportant detail of her early morning. "Interesting. Thank you. Could you please go and take a seat near there?" Smith responded, putting her sunglasses back on and handing a small, black device to the woman. "If you spot this person anywhere, please press the small button on the side to call me and tell me where you saw her." She said, gesturing to a nearby manga café and letting a soft, confident smile make its way onto her face. "We will find them, don't worry, Ms. Kiryu."

After the woman nodded and left the two to their own devices, Smith approached Zombina and slightly leaned her head towards the zombie, doing her best to explain the things she deemed necessary in secret, silently. "Our suspect is metamorph. We don't exactly know what kind of mamono she is, but she is definitely one. Could not explain the incredible speed of the thefts otherwise. She is also apparently one to fancy cosplay and the Mako-chan series."

"How the Hell did you deduce that last part?" Zombina whispered back, raising an eyebrow, as her eyes kept scanning the crowd around them, in the futile hope that they would find this supposed shapeshifter. "I mean, I get the rest, but-" she was saying, when Smith interrupted her. "Not all, but many of the victims reported bumping into or merely seeing a person, who looked like that popular fantasy character, the witch, Mako-chan, suspiciously close to them, but they figured it was just someone cosplaying or an event for a new manga or something. Only this one isn't just a case of someone wearing the same clothes. Her height, stature and face was an exact copy of the famous TV-show character. Now I doubt the actress playing the witch would turn to petty crime. And even if she did, she is a human, so that takes her off the hook. However, as the police cannot arrest and question every single Mako-chan mascot, especially since most likely our shapeshifter would drop this guise if she saw the police arrive, we have to catch her with the good old "hunt in the crowd and deduce" method." the coordinator sighed. "Our main lead is the cosplayers. And the fact that she often disguises herself as a Mako cosplayer. That's what we have to look out for. Right now, I don't have a better idea. We go in and do our best to find this girl. Maybe questioning some of the manga shop clerks if they noticed an overabundance of Mako girls anywhere."

Zombina let out a small snicker, rubbing the back of her neck with a hand. "Well, I don't know about that, boss. This looks like a classic needle in a haystack situation, except way more dangerous." After a small sigh, she gestured to the side, stepping away. "Uh, actually, can you give me a sec. I gotta go and…uh…y'know, go where undead people go to deal with their 'business.'" she said, eyes looking around, as if nervous. Smith nodded with a small frown and looked back into the crowd, deep in thought. If one were to observe her now, it would have appeared she attempted to find the identity thief through her own vision alone.

* * *

A short turn and a few bumps through the crowd later, Zombina approached one of the public restrooms she spotted on the way to the 'crime scene'. She noted the three doors. 'Male', 'Female', and 'Monster' were the signs on them. The undead opened the third door and stepped inside…only to instantly stop in her tracks, as if frozen in place. No. This couldn't just happen. It was just too big of a coincidence. For a few seconds, Zombina felt as if her legs were bolted into the ground. Which they might have been, seeing as she merely stood there, staring at the person standing in front of the mirror, tidying up her green and white school uniform. Her jet black hair shined nicely, the zombie girl noted, as the schoolgirl finished her business at the sink and turned, walking towards the door.

Zombina had to act on instinct. She wanted to grab at this person at once, take her down and bring her to Smith, but since she had no clear evidence that this was their culprit, she shut the door and attempted to walk to the sink as casually as possible, as soon as she noticed her 'target' turning towards her. No, this had to be the person she was looking for. After all, she was in the toilet labeled 'monster' yet she seemed human. Not to mention, she fit the appearance the victims have given perfectly. But to confirm her suspicions, she needed to be careful. After she noticed the schoolgirl walk out the door, she stopped in her tracks, walked back to the door, waited for a few seconds and then exited the bathroom, doing her best to stay far enough away from the girl to not be noticed, but still be able to follow her.

She tailed the young girl very carefully, slipping into the crowd along with her, but focusing her eyes on the bright green and white outfit and that jet black hair. They walked through the crowded street, the girl clearly going somewhere she knew, as Zombina noticed they seemingly followed a clear pattern through the streets.

Then, something really bad happened…

…the girl she was tailing turned around...

…and looked directly at her…

…then began running.

She took off through the crowd of people, running as fast as she could, pushing people aside or knocking them over. Zombina followed as fast as she could, though her larger body made it harder to do, making the smaller body disappear more and more as they ran down the street.

Throughout the chase, the undead agent thought. She tried to find a reason for all these thefts in this area, as she pushed past people. Not to say she couldn't imagine her target as a thief, but this whole thing simply…did not add up for her. Something seemed strange to her. This appeared to be a girl with abilities more akin to a professional thief, yet she seemed to be taking all that money she took did not appear anywhere else. She seemingly wasn't stealing to survive, the amount of money was too great, but it didn't make sense otherwise either, as there didn't appear to be anyone pulling the strings. At least right now.

The two rushed through an alleyway and suddenly, the crowd seemed to lessen, as Zombina found more and more open space, which greatly helped her position. Her undead body allowed her to access strength and speed at a superhuman level, catching up to the girl slowly.

The distance between them was reduced over time and Zombina could almost see Smith's approving smirk in her mind, as she brought her the unconscious thief she captured, almost able to hear the approving chuckle from the coordinator. Though her feeling of triumph came too soon, she noticed, as the girl launched herself over a railing and disappeared into another crowd of people, out of Zombina's sight. She growled angrily, as she dove after the schoolgirl, pushing past a lot of people, turning and turning, hoping she could find her, but it seemed for a time, to no avail.

With an angry growl, Zombina pushed past a group of people, shoving her way out of the crowd, when she was pushed by someone and knocked against someone else, making the both of them to fall over.

"O-oh, I-I'm sorry!" the undead redhead exclaimed, pushing herself up, then reaching a helping hand towards…"Ms. Kiryu?!" The zombie girl asked, shocked to see the last victim of the thief, raising an eyebrow as she almost couldn't believe to find her here. 'Didn't Smith tell her to stay put? Why is she here of all places?' she thought, tilting her head slightly, a questioning look on her face. "Why are you here? Weren't you supposed to-" she was cut short, as she helped the woman to her feet.

"I saw you two chasing each other down the streets and thought I'd help. I didn't have enough time to inform your superior, sorry." She replied, taking in a few deep breaths, clearly indicating she ran after them for some time. Zombina had to commend her actions. Even if she could not help them, at least her dedication to capturing the person who stole her money was admirable. But unfortunately, the chase was a failure. The thief will most likely move to a new area, as her previous hunting grounds are now compromised. She would have to continue search on Smith's side. But at least they had a clear modus operandi they could associate with the main suspect.

"Okay, come along, Ms. Kiryu. We should go and find coordinator Smith to inform her of-…wait a minute."

* * *

Smith sat down to the table Miss Kiryu chose, having searched for an hour or so, even having questioned the manga shop owners, but they were unable to give her any leads, since they never noticed any suspicious cosplayer who could fit the description. With a sigh, the coordinator took off her sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose with an irritated expression on her face. This was going to be a hard case. She would have to look over a lot of people one by one and most likely even that will be fruitless, as there are tons of people in this area every single hour of the day and her target is a shapeshifter.

Then, something entirely different happened.

A small, brown body was dropped roughly onto the table. Long, silver hair sprouted from the head, reaching as far as the toes of the feet. Over it stood Zombina, with a satisfied smirk on her face. "Got our thief right here, boss. It took a while, but I found her." She proclaimed, slamming a fist dramatically against her chest, causing the globes to wobble slightly, as she grinned, baring her sharp, bright white teeth. This baffled the coordinator. The woman lying before her was clearly a doppelganger and as Zombina explained, the things she found out have proven her right. So this was the thief they were after, then. From this angle, Smith noted, she looked much less…illusive, as she sounded during the briefing.

"Good job, agent Zombina." The black haired woman ceremoniously said, with a small smirk, earning a chuckle from her partner. "Good job indeed."

* * *

A few days later, two women approached a cell in the detainment facility of the Cultural Exchange Security Squad's headquarters. One wore a wide smirk, while the other, a concerned frown.

"Are you sure about this?" Asked the one having the frown, looking at her companion with a raised eyebrow. "She did almost escape from us. Who knows how well she will fair this time." To which her companion merely chuckled. "She's resourceful and creative. I mean, I only caught onto her charade because she called you my superior, while Ms. Kiryu kept calling you coordinator. That wasn't her fault. But if she was informed, imagine what a stealth agent she could be."

After an interrogation session led by Zombina, the girl admitted everything she has done. The security squad quickly found her home and inspected the records, but found no evidence of her even existing, let alone being at a homestay in Japan. She was as much an enigma as her powers. Except for Zombina. She had a talent, it seemed, for questioning suspects. To the undead girl, Smith noted with an amused smirk, the doppelganger seemed like a treasure chest of information that she needed to crack open. And Zombina was apparently strong enough to break the lock with her bare hands. Not that she got violent with the girl, no. She just was…Smith also noted…rather terrifying to people she interrogated.

Opening the cell door revealed the young girl in a sitting position on the bed of her cell, as the two women approached, her hands bound by a pair of strong handcuffs, which were connected to her neck by a short chain, preventing swift movement she would otherwise need for fighting or sneaking, if she wished to escape. Her ankles were also shackled and the cuffs put on them were connected to a sensor system that alerted the guards of her every move, just like the handcuffs. If she could be kept still by anything, these things were that.

She made no effort to let her 'guests' know that she has noticed them at all, so while Zombina took a seat on the chair, Smith stood in front of the girl, looking at her with a soft expression. 'Well, here goes nothing.' She thought, clearing her throat to speak.

"Well, good morning, Ms. 'Daremo.' How do you feel?" She questioned, wanting to start a sort of conversation, rather than outright tell her the idea they had. For a few seconds, no response came, then very slowly, those radiant, black eyes opened, gazing at the coordinator with a cold calmness.

"The bed's a bit hard." She commented calmly, but kept her eyes open afterwards, waiting for what Smith would say next. She didn't have to wait long.

"Apologies for that. But we could have something to help you with. If you accept, we can make sure you are released, as well as give you a home and a way to use your…talents better." The black haired woman said, speaking calmly, but giving her voice a soft undertone, so as not to scare the shapeshifter. She was offering a hand, not pointing a gun or knife, afterall. "It would give you a purpose that's better than just…'surviving' for nothing." She added, earning a puzzled expression, as well as the rise of one of the silver colored eyebrows.

"And what would I need to do? I don't know any criminals or nothing, I told you." The doppelganger began protesting, but Smith silenced her with a held up hand.

"No, you misunderstood me. We don't want you to give us information, rather…you could join us." She explained and after the confused expression she was given, she decided to press on. All or nothing now. "As you may know, there are problems with how the law enforcement operates, when it comes to extra species people. I am currently working to solve these, but I also find it hard to believe, that petty theft would be the extent of your abilities. If you would agree to join us, we can give you something to work towards, as well as a chance to do something good." This earned her a lazy shrug, to which Smith responded with "And you would also be free to leave this cell and have a job, a legal way of earning money, which means less trouble from the police and a home more suitable for you, than your previous apartment." She concluded, looking at her with a hopeful expression. If this didn't work, nothing would.

For as long as a minute or so, nothing happened. The doppelganger stared curiously into Smith's eyes, while the woman stared back, as if they were having some kind of staring contest. Then, the brown skinned woman slowly stood up and held out her wrists to the coordinator.

To Smith's surprised glance, she simply said in response. "What, I don't have to work with you with all this on my limbs, do I?" She asked with a small grin, earning a similar one from Zombina and a smaller, more refined one from Smith.

After removing the cuffs and opening her cell door, the two led their newest member out of the detention facility and towards a promise of a new home for the two mamono. Until the shapeshifter suddenly spoke up.

"And Daremo, though appropriate, is really stupid. I'm more of a Doppleganger, really. Call me something, like…Doppel. Yeah, call me Doppel."

* * *

*Stomp* *Stomp* *Stomp*

Loud crashes echoed through the forest. A tall being stomped through the greenery, making dents in the ground with every large step. Yet, nothing in its way was harmed. It either stepped over or around them, making sure that the plants or smaller animals it met on its journey remained unharmed. Two large, wide, curious eyes, spotted a large city in the distance. The tall form turned slightly, and then began walking in the direction the town was in.


	3. One big mother

Author's notes: Welcome for the third time, my dear readers! We are just getting into the thick of it! Two down, who knows how much more to go?! (Well, I kinda know, but am not telling, so don't ask.) For now, just kick back and enjoy the ride. I hope you like it. I appreciate if you review along with reading my works, but it is not a necessity at all. Have fun and, as I always say, ON WITH THE STORY.

* * *

She liked these nights. The nights she could take a break and be herself for a short time, since the day after would not include more training, but some freedom for 24 hours. As the two of them sat in their room, relaxing after a hard day of training, the one now known as Doppel gazed out at the night sky. In silence. Her eyes darted from constellation to constellation and she sighed, drinking in the sweet peace she could exist in for once.

Not so far from her, in an armchair, sat her newest partner at the security agency she now worked at. Zombina, she recalled. A small smile graced Doppel's face, as she remembered how they came in contact for the first time. Some would say an encounter like that brews the deepest, most cruel of hostilities. But in their case, it made quite the opposite effect. After she was released from her cell and received an apology from the undead for the punch she threw into her face when her disguise was broken, they became fast friends. And, in the following weeks, both trained under coordinator Smith to use their abilities the best they could.

Zombina continued her combat training, now focusing mostly on close quarters weaponry, melee and hand to hand combat. Her superhuman strength, granted by her dead body, made her a truly effective combatant, once Smith trained her techniques and improved her tactical abilities. She also received some training in tactics, as Smith saw it best fit to teach her new recruits the ins and outs of the security squad as well, which included the knowledge of their tactics.

Meanwhile, Doppel's training, though not as hard physically, but was just as tiring, mentally. Her training consisted of martial arts training, but only unarmed and most importantly, a psychological development to her mimicing abilities. Smith noted, that the brown skinned girl only used her shapeshifting powers on instinct, without any skill behind them, nor thought. She simply formed into the body she recognized the best at the time or into any random one when she needed a quick disguise, but she lacked the skill to morph into a specific disguise on command, or to mimic that person's voice and subtle movements. Smith's training of the doppelganger consisted of two things. One, she helped her tie her abilities to thoughts. It allowed her to create a trigger, which she could use to change her appearance more effectively and much faster, not needing as much concentration to keep it together as before. Two, Smith taught her to read people she wished to form the appearance of over her own body. To not simply see and remember every little detail about them, but to instantly be able to read their behavior and change her own accordingly, allowing her to completely disguise herself as said person, changing her looks, voice and all else, even fooling the relatives of the tested people during the checks Smith often did.

They had one day for a break every week and for a good two months now at least and both of them did their best during training. Something that clearly showed in the results. However, as much as Doppel was proud of her accomplishments, concerning her martial arts skills have been developing at a very fast rate, even though it has only been two months, since she started the training, she enjoyed the evenings of days before their free day the best. In times like this, the thought of what might come tomorrow didn't have to reach her mind, as inside, the answer already lingered. "Tomorrow will come nothing, except rest and some fun with the others."

Her thoughts were only disturbed by each other and sometimes, the voice of Zombina, along with whatever videogame she was playing. To make their apartment, situated in a building owned by the security squad and exclusively to house freshly arrived mamono before their introduction to the host families, more comfortable, Smith had a television and a Gamestation 5 installed, since she learned that Zombina, though lacking any memories of ever actually owning one of these machines, had an affinity for playing it and, later noticed, enjoyed it wholeheartedly. Sometimes even a bit too much. Therefore, usually, in her free hours, when she had no mood to watch a zombie movie (which eerily accelerated her acceptance of her undead fate, as well as increased her joy of seeing undead people similar to her) or chat with Doppel or sometimes, Smith, she sat into the armchair she has grown to love as a fine place to rest, turned the system on and spent a good hour or two playing games she enjoyed. And sometimes, though quite rarely, Doppel even found the urge to either sit and watch or even join her undead partner.

"What are you playing now?" The shapeshifter questioned, tilting her head to look at the screen. Some concepts just made no sense to her.

"Oh, this one's titled Project Beast. Great game, if you ask me," came the off-hand response from Zombina, who did not even look away from the screen, but kept on doing some gruesome thing or another with the character on screen.

"Isn't it a bit….'too morbid' though?" Doppel questioned again, raising an eyebrow at the strange sights she was seeing.

"You're saying that to someone who is held together by stitches." Zombina retorted, earning a chuckle and a short nod from Doppel. Guess coming to terms with someone's undead state had to include "looking at a lot of blood and dead bodies" in the process, she figured.

They spent the evening chatting, as Zombina played. And, after a time, when the zombie switched to another game, Doppel joined in, finding enjoyment in playing with the person she now called her friend.

* * *

The day after was spent in relative peace. The two spent the majority of their time outside, exploring some parts of the city, carrying a map at all times. Smith instructed them to do that, or rather, recommended, stating that it would be good if they got to know the surrounding area and memorize the locations, so they could easily navigate through the streets if needed. They both agreed to do that sometimes and even invited their new commander to come along, when she was off duty. Normally, she declined, but for reasons unknown to the two, this was not the outcome today.

The three walked into a café Smith told the other two about a few weeks ago, stating that if they would like to relax somewhat, to rest and have a nice day outside, tasting some fine drinks (as much as Zombina could taste, anyway) and take in the admittedly nice scenery. As the three sat down in the tea-garden, the coordinator recommended them some drinks and after the waiter left to bring what they ordered, they began chatting. Admittedly, it was about less action packed themes than Zombina would have liked, but even she had to admit, that spending some calm time with people she could actually call friends was nice. They discussed how their training was going well, with some praises and nice criticism directed at each of them, before switching onto topics on their comfort, consisting mostly of the coordinator asking how they felt and whether or not they found their current life good.

Doppel spoke softly, quite unlike the more explosive style of her agent partner, saying that their living quarters were good, they liked their current life quite a lot and that she was fond of her decision to join Smith, explaining her initial skepticism as well. Meanwhile, Zombina spoke in a much simpler, less sophisticated manner, but the others have long since gotten used to it. They actually liked the undead's explosive personality on most days. It brought certain…color to their lives.

As the three spoke, Zombina had an interesting feeling, as if a pair of eyes was constantly watching her. It was weird to her, but then again, undead were usually frowned upon or simply just stared at. But this was…different. She almost knew this was different. The others didn't seem to notice, but she did. She felt two eyes on her, as if curiously analyzing every little bit of her being. And as she turned her head to the left, it became apparent just what she was feeling.

A young girl, who sat with her parents a few tables away from the three, kept staring at Zombina. She was used to it by now. Humans staring at her all the time. However, as she sensed this, this little girl was different. She looked more curious than disgusted and didn't have any scorn in her eyes. It was as if she tried to look through Zombina, to see into her head. The undead girl tried to be nice by smiling softly at the girl, careful not to show her sharpened teeth and waving back at her. When this action of hers was followed by a startled shriek from the girl's mother and her pulling her child even more away from the mamono woman, Zombina raised an eyebrow. What was that woman's problem? The stitches? The mis-matched eyes?

"Uh, you lost something?" Came Doppel's voice from next to her. Upon looking at her partner, the zombie girl noticed. Three fingers. Three of her five fingers on her left hand, which she waved at the girl like some kind of mental disorder victim, were missing. She could already hear Smith's chuckling from behind her and upon spinning back towards their table, she saw them. Still on the table, holding onto the coffee cup she had for what seemed like dear life. "Oh, damn it."

* * *

After some stitching and apologies, the three paid for their drinks and left the café, as well as the incredibly awkward situation, caused by the deficiency of Zombina's ability for self-repair, the three walked down the street, talking about things connected to their training and eventual deployment alongside the security squad. Doppel seemed mildly interested, while Zombina's excitement increased by the second. Mostly because she would get to shoot guns at bad people. Of course, Smith also explained why the proper use of this two-monster team was crucial, since right now, they were the only extra-species members of the security squad, therefore only they could deal with mamono breaking the law. They seemed to get along just fine, but building them as a two-woman team would be the hard part. Especially, since their abilities in combat and fighting styles were so different. Oh well. She would do it, no matter what. But above all else, she would make sure to protect these two. She vowed to it, after all.

A ringing brought Smith back into the world from her thoughts. It was her phone and it sounded urgent, when she picked it up. It was an emergency report, concerning an extra species person. "There goes our day off, I guess." she thought to herself, listening to the officer on the other end of the line. They spoke of an accident caused by a monster nearby and how it caused a gigantic traffic jam in the area. The local forces were on the case to solve the situation, but seeing as the mamono themselves could not be moved by the authorities, they asked for help from the security squad.

They hurried to the scene, stopping only at a nearby outpost to gather some weaponry and switch into their gear, the three approached the wreckage of two cars seemingly almost completely destroyed by what Smith guessed to be the impact of whatever the mamono suspect was. Smith began to wonder what strange creature they would run into, when…they saw it.

Saw _her_ more like. Sitting between the two crashed vehicles, looking like she was sandwiched between the metal plates, as if they were dented around her, on the ground, sat a large, orange skinned woman, long blonde hair flowing from her head, her knees brought up to her chest and her arms reaching around them, head on her knees and loud sobs coming from her general direction. Smith was utterly shocked. At a loss for words. What kind of attacker was she? What kind of…"mamono criminal." Smith was given reports on a few jiang-shi, who after arriving in the human world, formed some sort of gang and indulged in criminal activity, so the coordinator had her guesses as to what might have caused the crash, but this…she had no clue as to what happened. A giantess, maybe? Or a troll? She would just have to check. With one slight motion of her hand, she signaled Zombina to ready her weapons, just in case, as the black haired human moved closer, lowering her handgun and eventually holstering it.

"E-erm, excuse me?" she asked, getting closer to the crying creature. "A-are you okay? Don't worry, I'm here to help. Do you need medical attention?" The girl she was talking to suddenly turned her head in her direction and her tear-stained face looked sad beyond words. Her eyes supported the rest of her appearance, which gave the impression of someone, who've been sitting here, crying for hours. Smith also noticed something else. A single, large horn protruding from her forehead. An ogre. Of course. But what was she doing here? She remembered no ogres in this city at all.

"Uh, is everything alright?" Smith asked, almost slapping herself for asking such a thing. Of course not, it was a dumb question, but seeing the reality instead of her expectations startled her into confusion and for a time, rendered her unable to think up her words as quickly as she usually could.

"A-are you with the bad people? ... n-no, you don't look like it. P-please help me." the ogre spoke, looking at the woman with terrified eyes and an expression that said she was really hurt in some way. "Please help me. It was so scary. And I got a booboo too!" her trembling lips suggested she would continue crying unless Smith intervened, but something struck her curiosity. Well, two things. "Bad people"? Who was she talking about? Illegal monster traffickers, maybe? Many people made money by selling monster girls on a black market, but they usually went for smaller beings, like nekomatas or pixies, maybe holstaurs, but she never heard of someone selling something as big as an ogre. Maybe a more courageous criminal? Could be, but still, it made no sense to her. Second of all, what did the ogre just say?!

"A…a…you said you have a…uh…'booboo'?" she questioned, tilting her head slightly and moving even closer, crouching before the mamono girl to take a closer look at her. "I'll help in whatever I can. Where is this booboo of yours and how did you get it?"

"Th-these two big things came at me and crashed into me as I walked. They were just so fast and I got a booboo on my knee! Here!" the ogre replied, repositioning herself and pushing her right knee up for Smith to inspect it. Well, she was somewhat right. A small scratch, about as serious as a papercut, was opened on her knee, letting loose a very tiny amount of blood. Still, this ogre treated it seriously, so Smith figured to ease her mind, she should too.

"Okay. Don't worry, you're safe now. We'll take care of you. Can you stand? We'll take you away from here." She said, keeping her voice calm and soft. Slowly, she saw the yellow skinned girl's head nodding and her body moving, as she pushed the two cars slightly apart with seemingly no effort, making herself some room to stand up. The coordinator stood back and watched, as the girl emerged to reveal…her less than adequate clothing.

With a slight blush, Smith looked away instantly, so did all the others, who noticed, some clutching their noses with a droplet of blood seeping through their fingers. The ogre was completely without clothes. Her face changed to confusion, as she looked around, wondering why everyone became so disinterested in her all of a sudden. Only Doppel and Zombina kept looking at her. The former because she had no issues with nudity, as she was practically always without clothes, even if she was disguised, while the latter found herself admiring the curvy form of the newcomer. She had…things filled up in all the right places Zombina thought. Almost ludicrously so. 'Like in an ecchi anime. Well, at least now I get it why so many guys love "big boobs".' she thought, stealing a quick glance down at her own chest, along with a sigh.

As the girl raised one leg to step out from between the car wreckages, Smith kept talking to her to keep her calm, careful not to accidentally generate an aggressive response from the ogre. "What is your name? Do you mind telling me?" she asked, receiving a slow, short nod as reply and soon, the tall monster spoke.

"M-my name is Tionishia. But you-you may call me Tio." She said, as she carefully stepped in front of Smith, her large, tall form towering over the coordinator, but her childish facial expression of pain and fear showed off just how much her stature actually mattered in this world. Slowly, though, it seemed as though she was calming down. She approached Smith and did her best to smile, even though her booboo still hurt. She had to stay strong. Like Mama always said. "Little Tio, you are a wonderful, strong girl. Stay like that forever, okay?" Then she did the worst possible thing she could have done at that place and point in time.

She looked at the two other agents.

She looked at Zombina.

And she looked at the guns in Zombina's hands.

"Ba-ba…bad people!" She screamed, pointing quickly at the undead, then turning and running away, her loud steps echoing across the city. Smith's sunglasses slid off of her nose and it was only thanks to her reflexes that she caught them. Noticing the commotion, Zombina and Doppel rushed to the coordinator, with the zombie girl running past her and after the ogre. Doppel stopped and looked at their boss. "What just happened?" She almost screamed, looking at the human woman, who merely shrugged, completely dumbfounded herself. But the shapeshifter's attention switched to something else, as she suddenly noticed something on the ground. She crouched and picked it up. "And what's this?" She questioned, holding the small photograph in her hands. It had two women on it, smiling, happy.

The two ran through the city streets, with Zombina feeling some form of strange nostalgia. Just like when she was chasing Doppel, except this time, it was much easier to keep track of who she was chasing down the street. People jumped aside, stacked boxes were knocked over and even some little dogs had to scurry away to safety, barking in a scared manner. The undead girl couldn't help, but hold her fire, making multiple attempts to call out to the other woman. "Hey! Stop, please! I won't hurt you!"

Inside Tionishia's head, though, she could only hear the sounds of her footsteps. And the memory of _that day_ once again. Her own voice, asking "Mama?" happily. A *bang* noise. Something black. Blood. Mama's glass-like, still eyes. More blood. More *bang* noises. Her running. Her steps making loud, *thud* sounds. Running.

She turned left at a sudden moment she realized an escape and dived into one of the side streets, with Zombina following closely behind. Tio had to be fast. She had to escape, had to hide, so the bad people would not get her and wouldn't do the something horrible to her. She felt so terrified, she could do nothing, but run. Another turn left, one to the right, then another right and she was about to reach an open street again.

But she stopped. For in front of her was something. No, someone. That wrinkled face. That flower-pallet dress. Those nice, soft, blue eyes. That short, greyish hair. That gentle gaze that told little Tio that everything would be okay. The ogre stopped in her tracks and stared, mouth quivering at the sight. No. How could this be? Mama was taken, so how was she here? She took a step forward towards her, then noticed Mama doing the same. They slowly approached each other, with Tio's eyes welling up with tears more and more as she got closer. Neither of them spoke a word, as the elderly woman slowly opened her arms and gestured towards herself with a gentle smile, prompting the ogre to rush over and envelop her in a tight hug. This had to be real. She could feel Mama against herself. So she _was_ coming back for her after all. Perhaps they could finally go home and have some cookies. Mama's famous cookies.

All thoughts were shattered, though, as the clattering of something metal caught her ears from behind. Turning around, picking up the human woman in the process, the tall mamono's face carried anger and resentment. "Get away from us! You won't take Mama ever again!" she screamed at the undead, who stood with her hands raised, standing over her dropped firearms, looking hopeful that her disarming herself might calm the other down. It seemed to work, as the ogre slowly lowered her beloved "Mama" to the ground, face softening, as the anger subsided.

"Apologies, Tionishia." A soft voice came from behind her and turning, she noticed the same human again. Jet black hair, sunglasses, black suit, yes. She was the same woman. "I am coordinator Smith. Could I have a word?" she questioned, prompting a slow nod from the ogre. "I'm sorry for the bad things you were forced to endure, but if you wish, we might be able to help you." To the ogre's question of _'Who?'_ the coordinator gestured around the four of them, her gaze following the woman's hand onto a smiling and waving undead and her Mama, who, to Tio's horror, transformed in front of her very eyes. At first, she wanted to explode with anger. She has been deceived. Some imposter used her feelings for Mama and used them against her. But she stopped herself. For the girl, who appeared under the guise did not look sinister at all. No. Just like the zombie or the human, she looked solemn, quite sad, even. Tio could not see malice coming from this girl. No sinister intent, at least. "Please, if you wish, we can help you. Give you a place you can call your home and something to do." The woman continued, drawing Tio's attention yet again. "We even have bigger things that don't break so easily." She followed it up, earning a small smile and slowly, very slowly, a nod, from the ogre.

As things were settled, the brown skinned woman handed back a small piece of paper to Tio, prompting the ogre to become overjoyed and hug her tightly, drawing a gasp from the silver haired girl's throat. It was a picture. An old looking picture, with two smiling women on it. On the back, in messy handwriting, it read "Tio and Mama."

* * *

"Oh boy. Here we go again." Zombina scoffed. She was staring at the ridiculous contest for hours and nothing was solved so far. In front of her, three employees of the security squad, who had an expertise in uniform and clothes making, competed in an overall ridiculous contest of luck, over who would get to design and create the uniform and clothes for the "Gorgeous Tall Girl" as they called her. _Perverts_ , Zombina thought. All they were mainly competing for is the privilege to squeeze Tio's body as she was measured. But the ogre didn't seem to mind, watching the competition from half a room away, wrapped in some bath curtains and listening intently to the two men and one woman.

After a long time, one victor finally emerged and after a quick victory dance, began to work on the curvy body of the ogre, praising her as much as she could, commenting on her sizes and figure. As well as making her uncomfortable in the process.

"Uh, sorry, but I'm really sensitive about my height." Tio explained, prompting quick apologies from the woman. She did her best to be careful, but her nose was threatening to bleed, as her hands reached all over the tall woman's body, determined to get every measurement she could, just so she could have some more time being close to the horned mamono.

Then, as she reached around her abdomen, something terrible happened.

Her feet slipped and in a desperate attempt to steady herself, she reached up.

"T…T-Tio-san?..."

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"


	4. One Eye, One Shot

Author's notes: Welcome welcome for the fourth time into this story! I hope you liked the story's previous three episodes and will continue liking it after this one as well. As well as providing some distraction from the excruciating wait for the second season of this amazing anime, I'd also like to provide entertainment in general while we wait for something new to watch. Anyways, let's continue with this tale of monsters and have another walk through the amazing universe Okayado-san created. In other words, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

"Oh, that was great, Bina-chan! You're really good at this!" Escort specialist Tionishia exclaimed, watching the aforementioned undead end the life...un-life of another unfortunate zombie on the screen. It has been a few weeks since the ogre was recruited and over said weeks, she showed a particular enthusiasm to anything her new friends were doing. Though her larger frame and big hands did not allow her to play more complicated videogames effectively with Zombina, she enjoyed simply watching the undead play and sometimes even play with her, when the game wasn't so complicated, like the current game she was immersed in, titled "Inner Evil." Other times, Tio liked sitting down to chat with "Pel-chan." She enjoyed the doppelganger's thoughts, mostly on the way she saw the world and how she interacted with people, having learned not to abuse her power for personal gain.

Like the others, Tio was trained to use her strengths for the best and try to eliminate her weaknesses. She was assigned as a guard/escort unit, received a suit of armor designed specifically for her for use in situations where her size meant the greatest advantage and was taught breaching tactics, as well as anything she might need to work well with the team. Tio enjoyed training and learning too, though she definitely enjoyed joint training with her friends more.

As the physical and mental training continued, Smith decided to start bringing the three together as a team, giving them complicated tasks they had to solve together. Zombina was able to take charge as leader and was efficient in commanding her small group, though sometimes, she would become reckless and risk her own body and 'health' in order to achieve something possibly not even worth it. Doppel was getting better and better at disguising herself completely, however under stress, her disguise fell apart on occasion, as her emotions were not kept well enough in check. Tio was still quite inexperienced and had to learn a lot, but eventually, she knew her abilities would become just as useful as her beloved Na-chan and Pel-chan.

"Hell yeah! Headshot!" Zombina's exclamation echoed through the room, surprising both Doppel, who was lounging in an armchair, reading a book and Tio, who got lost in her thoughts, while watching her friend play. On screen, while the redheaded zombie cheered, the main character shot a pistol at the head of another zombie, making it explode and the headless body to collapse onto the ground. "Oh, I love this game!" Zombina yelled, pumping her fist in the air, while making the protagonist run and escape into another room from another few shambling corpses.

"I don't know what's more sick. What I just witnessed, or your…disturbing infatuation with destroying your own kind." Doppel commented, raising one of her eyebrows, as Tio clapped her hands with a confused expression, wishing to applaud her friend's happiness, even if she did find Doppel's point…bizarrely accurate. But of course, Zombina's response of "What? It's just a game." settled the argument.

The door to their room was suddenly pushed open and Smith entered, causing each member of the small group to bolt to their feet and stand at attention. To their surprise, she wasn't wearing her usual black suit and tie as she did on most days, but wore a light yellow top with blue jeans and blue sunglasses. The three could still imagine her being intimidating, but a lot less than when she wore her work attire. "Hello, ladies. How are you doing?" The coordinator questioned, signaling for the three to drop the ceremonial standing for a superior officer and return to whatever they were doing. They all sat down, but the curious glances remained, as Doppel and Zombina gave a halfhearted "I'm fine, thanks." as a response, while Tio began to excitedly explain her day in detail to their superior. To guess what coordinator Smith was up to has become easier and easier throughout the months they spent with her, as they got to know her more and more, but they still had suspicions, when the woman approached them wearing an outfit that was not her regular work clothes. That meant something other than training, which could be either good or bad, given the situation.

"Sorry for interrupting your break," the human woman told her three mamono agents, after Tio finished her excited tale of this morning, taking off her sunglasses as well. "But I thought this could be a good day to move out a bit. They opened a new arcade nearby and I thought it could be good for you if we went on a little trip there. Might be nice to discover some things about human society." The coordinator explained, before touching a hand to her forehead. "At least according to the directory. Nevertheless, I have 'orders' to introduce you to everyday life in human society, as they put it."

"Ya mean we were told officially to go sightseeing, by the bosses? Well, that's ironic." Zombina commented, turning off the console and standing up with a short stretch of her arms. "Well, let's go, then. I'm up for some street walkin' anyway." She was, of course, followed by a passionate cheer from Tio, as well as an acknowledging nod from Doppel, both of whom got to their feet and ready to leave along with their undead partner.

* * *

The streets were busy at this time of the day, but that didn't stop the four of them to make their way quickly to the place Smith was talking about. It was a comfortable little establishment, as all of them noted, and had a certain aura, that filled all of them with a sense of peace, even though it was rather…noisy in certain parts. It had a café area in one part of it, where Smith took a seat with Doppel, while Tio and Zombina went to explore the "more fun" parts of the area.

Zombina immediately sat down to play one of the arcade machines. It said "City of the Dead" on it and once again, the ogre was reminded of the fact that her undead friend had little to no problem massacring what appeared to be 'her own people.' It was a bit too brutal for her, though, so after a joint round of killing the undead together, Tio made a break for it and left her friend with the words of "I'll check the bar for drinks."

 _(just wondering if, at any point, Zombina or anyone else is going to remind someone who finds that ironic that humans have generally zero problems killing their own kind, either in games or real life)_

On the way to said place, however, she 'accidentally' tripped and 'accidentally' fell into the giant ball pit situated in the middle of the room. Luckily, the few young children gleefully playing inside it were not crushed under the enormous body and could only sit and watch in awe, as a good few dozen small plastic balls were thrown into the air in the shape of a nuclear mushroom cloud, to the amusement of the shocked children. Shortly afterwards, the childlike ogre began hastily waving her arms and legs, as if wanting to do a snow-angel inside the ball pit. "Weeee!" she squealed with glee, finally finding herself in her own element. Not that she didn't like spending time with Bina-chan, but this, she liked slightly better than seeing limbs of undead explode off their bodies. She did feel like there was a deep bond forming between her and the redhead, though. Their training usually got intertwined, as she was mostly assigned for escort duty, at least as soon as she could be deployed and Zombina was the team leader/assault specialist. Their roles in the team complimented each other, just like their fighting styles. If she thought really hard, she could remember this is sort of what humans called "bromances" in clichéd animes.

Or weird fanfiction.

Not too far from there, in the café area, Smith and Doppel sat at a table, sipping their ordered drinks calmly, with the latter attracting the coordinator's glances from time to time. It was hard enough to convince Doppel to be more modest in public than she usually was, but to make/manipulate her to wear actual clothes was, as Smith found, virtually impossible. On the other hand, she was willing to use a clothed disguise in order to hide her otherwise obvious nudity. After a good few minutes of constant begging. And even then, while most people couldn't notice, the fact that all clothes were just an illusion on otherwise completely uncovered flesh, were basically child's play to notice for the government agent's trained eyes. Which made her feel increasingly awkward. But at least Doppel made for great conversation.

* * *

Over time, they all adjusted to their new surroundings. Zombina occasionally visited her boss and coworker at the café, when all of the better arcade consoles were occupied, noting that they were quite good conversation, as far as other species went. She would even admit liking them. Both them, and the gentle giant gleefully playing with the younglings in the ball pit.

"Never expected Tio to be into that stuff. I mean, she's childish, but _that_?" The undead commented, settling down to the two after another round of _City of the Dead._ "She looks like she's having fun, though. Guess that's good."

"It seems all of us have surprises up our sleeves, don't we?" Smith replied with a slight giggle, taking a picture of the happy ogre with her phone, who noticed the flash and posed for a second one, winking at the tiny camera and holding up her fingers in a v shape, a wide, cheerful smile plastered into her face. And this was the part, where Zombina decided she _**hated**_ the fact she didn't bring a camera herself. _She is awfully cute, though._ She could admit that much to herself. Not that she would have found another reason to photograph her coworker.

"Whelp, I'll be around. See you." The redhead replied, half-saluting the two and after earning a nod from each, leaving to play some more on a now available machine. She did take note of the lone woman she noticed. She didn't seem THAT suspicious, but then again, she did seem a _little_ suspicious. Big hat to cover her entire head, neat dress that seemed just a tad bit too…"girly" for her tastes, sitting alone at a table, probably contemplating whether or not waiting for whoever she was waiting for was worth it actually. And just an aura of…"being lost." Or whatever a person smarter than Zombina would put it as.

"Should we be worried about her game addiction?" Doppel asked, looking after the by now out of sight undead, chuckling with a hand put to her mouth, earning a small smile from Smith. "It is amusing to watch her play sometimes, though. She gets so… _energetic_ with games." She commented, with Smith agreeing.

* * *

Meanwhile, the happy ogre climbed out of the pit filled with small plastic spheres and giggling children. The young ones kept waving as she left, explaining she needed a snack and promising she would bring them some too. "Bye, big lady!" They happily yelled after her, prompting a wave and a smile to come from her too. She got up, straightened her dress, waved at the kids one more time, before turning and…slamming straight into someone during her step.

"Oh my! Sorry! Are you hurt?!" She squealed immediately, kneeling down to help the person up. She didn't feel anything, to be fair. She only heard the sound of a person crashing into her and then falling to the floor with a yelp. Tio pulled them up and patted their dress down, straightening the cloth with a smile. "Sorry for that. Here, come on, I'll buy you something to drink." She promised and despite the protests of the stranger, she gently dragged them to the restaurant portion of the arcade. She asked for several snacks, the ones the kids asked for and something for herself, then paid for both her own and her new " _friends'"_ purchases. She also bought something the stranger asked for, handing it over to them with a grin, as if it was some rare treasure she had the honor of holding before it's owner got ahold of it for good, even though it was a sweet cocktail of mixed fruit juices.

To say that their conversation was slow was putting it mildly. Tio, as always, did her best to be as friendly as possible, always listening (on the rare occasions) when her talking partner had something to say and excitedly chattering about anything that she was interested in. Like clothes, nice walks on the beach, fluffy things, her friends, etc. Except, as she heard from the big-hatted stranger, she was alone with that. Her newly found friend had no acquaintances they mentioned as "friends" and seeing their shy nature, Tio was not surprised. Still, she decided to act friendly and treat the stranger with respect and kindness. As she did with all, who weren't outright hostile towards her.

They kept on talking for a good hour or so, with 'talking' being mostly Tio's side and the stranger rather just 'listening' and making a few shy remarks. From time to time, Zombina joined them, either for a short drink or a short conversation, acting friendly towards the shy stranger herself. They had great fun and, in Tio's opinion, were actually becoming quite friendly, not just her and the rest of her 'unit' but the stranger too. And on such a nice day like this. Nothing could make this day wrong in her opinion.

However…

Suddenly, out of one of the shops, a figure busted through the doors, knocking over some bystanders. Her long, weirdly shaped legs and white furred body astounded Tio, who was the first to notice. "Hey, what's up with her?" she asked, pointing towards the figure, who by now was leaping through the crowd, appearing and disappearing, as in the store she just bolted out of, sirens began to turn on and the owner to rush out and shout. "Thief! Stop them!"

That was all Zombina needed and with a few short skips, which astounded both Tio and her new friend, seeing as they were situated at the inner part of the arcade, the undead girl reached the entrance and drew two submachineguns from under her brown jacket, aiming into the crowd, waiting for that shot of white fur to fire.

"No, none of that." A strong voice came from behind her and upon turning, she spotted Smith, with Tio, Doppel and the stranger, a walkie-talkie in her right hand. "You could hit someone innocent, not to mention, human. Damn, I wish things like this _**wouldn't**_ happen exclusively on my days off." The coordinator said with a sigh, before beginning to bark orders to nearby operatives of the exchange security squad through the walkie. "Close off all the exits. We have an unarmed robbery going on. An extra-species person, possibly a wererabbit. Don't shoot, but derail and detain. Understand?" She said firmly. "And let's hope for a miracle." Came another sigh, as the five of them watched the small white fur becoming smaller and smaller as it appeared and disappeared in the crowd.

Then, something tugged at Smith's belt, removing the tranq gun she always carried with herself. Upon looking to her side, she was shocked to see Tio's new friend, the girl with the big hat, drawing Smith's own handgun from her belt with a swift movement of her hand, stepping forward and in a matter of milliseconds, aiming down the sights to target the robber.

"Wait! Don't!" Smith began to shout, but she only got two letters in, when the gun was fired and the girl fell onto the ground from the knockback she was obviously not expecting. The coordinator was ready to cuff her and put her into custody for what she did, when the report came in. The guards found their target. With a precise shot straight at the back of her neck. Through the walkie, Smith could even hear the snoring of the rabbit, as it merrily slumbered from the tranquilizer. Taking off her sunglasses and rubbing her eyes if she was seeing blurry, noting that she did not, therefore it was not a hallucination, the black haired woman turned towards the girl by now sitting on the floor, still not putting the sunglasses back on, as she crouched and spoke to her softly. "Hello, miss. My name is Smith. May I…know who you are?" She questioned, an eyebrow raised and an expression of utter bewilderment on her face.

"H-h-hi…n-nice to meet you. Uh…um…m-m-my name is M-Manako."

* * *

"I just don't believe this! No! How can this happen?! You've gotta be kiddin' me!" Zombina's confused and surprised yells echoed through the room. "Jus-how?!" she continued to express her bewilderment, while watching the young mooneye next to her completely obliterate enemies in the videogame they were playing, while the otherwise quite efficient undead was left slacking behind. "How can you be so good at Call to Arms?! Doesn't one eye mean no depth perception?" She questioned, staring blankly at the screen, while attempting to force her in-game avatar to follow her much more skilled partner's lead.

"At long range…uh…it doesn't matter that much…uh…I'm actually quite good at aiming and shooting." Manako responded in a shy tone, not only because she did not necessarily favor Zombina's loud and honestly, quite brash behavior, but she wasn't really used to receiving so much praise. Rather, she was used to people staring at her when they thought she wasn't looking and children running away, screaming for their mommies. This was… _new_ to her, even if she has been receiving this for several days now.

"Seems like someone's a sore loser." Doppel interjected with a chuckle, prompting an irritated grunt from Zombina. Tio merely sat, snacked and stared intently at her two friends, as they played, cheering them on at each new victory. At least they were both having fun, even if she could already see Zombina swearing to make Manako play Project Beast next.


	5. Monsterhunter 4

Author's notes: Well, hello there, my pretties. Welcome to another chapter of this nice story. The Writer sincerely hopes you've been enjoying yourself so far, as he wishes to entertain you above all else and bring you some nice smiles while you're reading his works. Or any other emotion he intends you to feel while reading. *cough* Nevertheless, fret not, I am still continuing this story and will for some time, so you can expect more updates for this story still. Just you wait. Until then, though, ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

To say that the plan failed would've been a colossal understatement. No, not even colossal. It was the one understatement to rule them all. The situation was messed right up from the beginning and not only because the business ran by the targets was shadier than the Dark Side's butthole at night, but because of the team's lack of experience in the field and working with each other.

„Up!" one of the guards barked, before raising a rifle and smacking the butt of it against Zombina's head. "The boss wants ta' speak with ya. Yer the leader of this group, 'ight?" The same angry voice questioned, prompting the redhead to nod. Then, one fat, meaty hand grabbed her and picked her up, holding her by the throat in a deathgrip. She was brought to another room and sat down into a chair, tied up with chains, so as she would be unable to move. "Good. Then the boss wants ta talk with ye, pretty corpse. Wait 'ere!" the same voice growled, more than spoke, and the steps walked away, leaving Zombina alone in the dark room with her thoughts. Her vision was still slightly hazy from the hit she took before, and she had no idea where she was, let alone where the others were. One thing was for sure, though.

She hated this.

Her friends, her coworkers, even Smith were in a place she had no idea where it was and she was helpless, tied up and had no ability to do anything about the situation, except wait and see what happens. That was what killed her almost. Again. The wait. She was by nature, it seemed, an impatient person. She never liked to wait for anything, but this time, it seemed the sole act of waiting became even more torturous than just waiting for the next break or the closest time she could slack off on some extra training to watch a movie with the others or have a short drink. This was torturous precisely because she had no idea when it would end.

And it made her think.

Think of what she could've done to prevent this. She was the _"commander"_ and thus the well-being and leading of this group was her responsibility. She was trained by Smith on tactics, strategies and had taken extra hours to study theoretical situations with the woman to see her leadership skills tested. Yet she failed. If they all got done in by these bastards, it was all her fault. Thinking back, while waiting for whatever horrors to emerge, she almost felt herself back at the command center, listening to Smith's explanation of the situation.

Yes. Memories would be more pleasant…

... than the reality she had to face right now…

* * *

"We have a…situation, I would say." Smith said with a sigh, as the four mamono gathered around the table in an empty conference room of the security squad's main building, listening to the coordinator's long, somewhat boring, but ultimately necessary explanation of their next mission, which was the first time their skills and abilities as a team would be properly tested on a mission.

"There have been reports of several jiangshi and orc criminals forming into larger groups. They violate the interspecies exchange act and since the police was unable to catch them, the government of both Japan and the other two countries, the Nation of Orcs and the Undead Republic, asked us, the security squad to take care of the threat. We have tracked down one of these gangs to a large warehouse near the outskirts of town. The place is deserted, or at least should be and is in disrepair, but several people reported seeing lone orcs and jiangshi nearby. Most likely either runaways or illegal immigrants into the country. Whichever is the case, we need to take care of it. Or, well, you have to." She explained, dropping small files of both monster species in front of each girl, explaining the physical abilities and appearances of the targeted monster groups.

"So what's the target?" Zombina asked, throwing aside the file after having paged through it. She had her legs on the table and was leaning back in her chair. Her sharp teeth sparkled, as she pulled her mouth open into a cocky grin. Finally, some real life action.

"Um…I think…maybe a stealthy,…um…precise approach would be better, instead of…um…breaking down the doors." Manako interjected with a suggestion, putting a hand to her mouth. She heard of orcs before, but jiangshi were new to her and by their looks, they were dangerous enough to warrant their skills. Orcs were tough, while jiangshi were nimble and agile, as she noticed. "M…maybe at night?"

"Well, if that's the case, I volunteer for disguised unit!" Doppel chimed in, raising her hand and immediately using her hair to mimick a jiangshi's traditional clothes and body. "I can even do the weird jumping they do. And since they're working with girls, they won't notice the smell. Or at least won't give a thought to it." The shapeshifter grinned, leaning back in her hair, drawing the Chinese styled cap down over her forehead and eyes with a toothy grin. She liked messing with people. Especially bad people. And now she got paid (sort of) to do it. Much easier than the identity thefts she previously made business of. And it'd be hella more fun too.

*Munch Munch Munch* came the chewing noises from Tio, who sat, snacking on a bag of jumbo-sized pretzels, smiling and sometimes glancing at the file she was handed. She didn't care very much for who those people were. She knew enough to understand that they were bad and they needed to be stopped. By them, most likely. All other stuff, Bina-chan would explain and tell her what to do.

"Thank you, Manako-chan. We already thought of that and devised a plan. But you must know, this isn't a training mission. You have one chance at doing this and you have to do it right. There is a plan, but you must perform your best to pull it off, there can be no mistakes. Who knows what will happen if this goes bad. At the very least, we will lose their tracks and need to find them again. At the worst, well…" Smith fell silent, drawing an uncomfortable tension onto all of them. They all knew how it could end. Those were real criminals, with guns out there, not just training dummies or exchange security squad agents pretending to attack them. Even though Smith acted lazy and non-caring quite often, she did grow attached to these girls. They were like her daughters. Or little sisters, at this point. It would break her heart to lose them.

After explaining the plan, they moved out with the rest of the security squad, who they were told would remain away from the facility and come collect the criminals, once the smoke has settled. However, as Smith was quick to note, they would be unable to help them during the mission. As far as the current situation went, Zombina, Tio, Doppel and Manako were on their own. Together as a team, but alone in any other aspect.

* * *

They moved in carefully, with Manako taking aim from a nearby hill, Tio stationed nearby in case she needed to rush to the facility and offer help, while Zombina and Doppel snuck closer. They noticed one of the jiangshi patrols walking in their direction and after using Doppel to distract her with an illusion (meaning to basically play the mirror trick, which even surprised the zombie girl at how gullible the vampire was, having fallen for it out in the open), Zombina moved behind her and with a quick move of her arms, grabbed the oblivious girl by the throat in a sleeper hold and dragged her away into cover, tying her up with the help of Doppel and putting tape on her mouth, muffling her words instantly.

"Okay. Your turn." Zombina gave the order, prompting a nod from the shapeshifter, after which, she took a few moments to take a good look at their captured mamono and took on the appearance of her perfectly, going through her pockets quickly, until they found a note that was sent to a girl named "Yuna" detailing how the sender hoped the recipient (whichever was the girl they found it on) would find her way to the human realm and hoped they could reunite soon. "Well, whoever this is, I'll need to go with a fake name too. I'll improvise, I guess." Doppel said and took the route she figured the captured extraspecies would've taken, slowly changing her course to slip into the building. "Child's play."

Slipping inside was not the easiest. Doppel still needed to master how the jiangshi walked from observing the others around her, but luckily, nobody seemed to notice. Not the vampires, not the orcs. Her disguise seemed perfect.

"Nihao! What your name?!" sounded the cheerful screech of a jiangshi right behind Zombina suddenly. Thinking she was spotted, she whipped around, guns aimed at…

... nothing.

There was nobody standing there. Standing, that is. In front of her sat the girl they tied up only a minute ago and bits of chewn-through tape were hanging off the sides of her face. "My name Cici! What yours?" she asked cheerily again, blinking in a curious fashion at the girl crouching near her. "You serious looking. What you doing?" she asked, tilting her head, blood red eyes staring curiously.

Zombina did her best to ignore the girl, listening to her friends' reports through the communicator, doing her best to whisper loudly enough so that they could hear it, but it wouldn't give away their position. She slowly cocked one of her silenced submachineguns in the jiangshi's direction. "Oh, by the way, no screeching, 'kay?" She asked, prompting a giggle from the other girl.

"You dumb! Bullets no hurt Cici! Cici undead, she not hurt by bul-GAH!" her cocky words ended with a short gasp, as Zombina fired a silenced round straight to her neck, making her body, including her magically functioning vocal chords, freeze up and stop moving. All she could do now was sit there and listen.

"Not even salt? Told ya to shut it." The zombie replied, refocusing her attention on the direction of her friends. "Got in, Doppel? What do you see?"

"Not a lot that's good for us. I counted and there's about sixteen orcs, with fourteen jiangshi. All of them armed. Orcs have guns, vampires have swords, daggers and some other melee weapons." The shapeshifter reported in. "There's a taller orc, who looks like the leader. And there seems to be more weapons in crates. Black market, maybe?" She continued, before quickly going silent.

"Damn. That's not too good. We'll need Tio for the endgame." The undead commander sighed, rubbing her cold forehead. "Manacchi. What do ya see? Any upper levels with more?"

"Got it. Uhm…three orcs on the upper level and a single…uh…jiangshi." The monoeye reported in. checking through the scope to mark the hostile forces she saw on her map she had in the grass nearby. Meanwhile, Tio sat next to her, watching her work, sometimes quietly cheering her on and stuffing some tasty pretzels into her mouth. (Remnants of her snacks from before.) She was hoping all her friends would be safe and they could finish this up soon. Very soon.

The shapeshifter got her hands on a few blades, meanwhile, hiding them in the wide sleeves of the jiangshi disguise her hair formed. They could become useful later. She gave the signal to Zombina, that she was ready if they planned a surprise attack.

"Got it. Manacchi, cover me. I'm moving closer. The number of undead here should mask my own smell, but be careful. I don't wanna get shot at yet. Ya got tranqs, right?" She asked, receiving an affirmative from the sniper, as she scoped the area for approaching threat.

That was when she heard it.

They all heard it.

Zombina was sure even the security agents stationed far away, heard it.

And all she thought was: 'Oh crap…the salt's effects wore off!'

"HOI, GUYS! WE GOT OTHERS HERE!" Cici, the jiangshi, screamed at the top of her undead lungs, which drew the attention of every single jiangshi and orc in the vicinity.

"Not good." The girls thought simultaneously, leading to Zombina barking orders through their communication line, while running through the hail of bullets and knives flying in her direction at record speed. "Mana, give Tio coverfire as she comes to help me and thin out the people inside a bit. Tio, come quickly, we need to get inside to break the doors down! Doppel….uh…find something flammable!" She directed, while crouching behind a piece of wall she could get to before a group of their opponents burst from the building, aiming their weaponry right at the undead.

"Roger!" the other three echoed and Tio, in her custom made armor, began running down the hill she was on with Manako just moments before, smiling behind her protective mask. Yes. She'd be great help, saving Bina and Pel-chan. They (especially Zombina) would be so proud! As the bullets whizzed past her and bounced right off of her thick plated armor, she released a loud battlecry of sorts, charging into the closed doors of the facility, slamming her fists into it. It broke down with a sickening crash and flew into the facility, with Tio stepping inside quickly after, ready to face whoever she saw.

Doppel decided to use the confusion of the situation to emerge from the shadows, chucking a can of gasoline she found near one of the weapon crates, hoping one of the girls would see it and shoot it, tossing it across the room, making it's contents spill all over the ground, some of it reaching the crates of ammunition. A perfect way to light it from afar. Now all she needed was to get a- ***fwp***

Doppel suddenly stopped. She did not understand. Her vision became blurred and her legs seemed to have given up. Trying to continue walking forward only made her fall forward and like a bag of concrete, collapse onto the floor. "What…the…" the shocked shapeshifter asked, unable to move any part of her body, only able to witness as her disguise evaporated. "N…no…M…Ma…"

"Oh no! Doppel-san!" a scream came over the communicator, almost deafening the others. "I shot her! I shot Doppel!" Manako proclaimed, which made the commander notice her screams came from someplace else than her communicator. No…she was yelling so loud, Zombina could hear her from her far away position.

"Manako, keep it down! You're giving away your position!" she yelled into the communicator and upon only receiving static, decided to rush in and help Tio out, figuring she would pick up the others later, when the mess was cleaned up. She and Tio moved in through the main door of the facility, with Zombina using her guns to drop jiangshi to the ground, paralyzed from the salted bullets, as Tio moved towards the orcs, using her superior size and strength to knock them unconscious.

Moving quickly through the ranks Tio cut in their opponents, Zombina dealt with the ones the ogre left behind, but the undead commander saw what probably her companion knew too.

They would be overwhelmed quickly.

Unless her and Tio made their way quickly out of here, taking Doppel with them and finding Manako, not only would they be making a complete mission of this supposed stealth mission, but even they would be in danger of being beaten, captured and who knows what else.

Rushing towards the spot she spotted Doppel collapsed, Zombina yelled quick orders to Tio, who was struggling with the number of orcs coming at her at the moment.

Just a few more steps and she would reach the shapeshifter, grab her and jump out through one of the windows, ready to find Manako.

However…

One of the jiangshi got smart and leapt through the air.

She landed on Tio's shoulders, grabbing onto her and doing her best to pry the thick helmet of the ogre agent, but in doing so, not only did she cover her eyes with her body, but the added weight and the force of impact the vampire landed on her with, unbalanced Tionishia, who began stepping backwards slowly, towards the spot Zombina was at.

Two more steps of struggling walk backwards, until…

She tripped, falling.

The jiangshi screamed as they fell, drawing Zombina's attention. She stared at the enormous body headed straight at her, eyes widening as the ogre fell.

"Oh cra-"

* * *

 _ **SLAP**_ came the punch from a thick and rough hand, waking up Zombina from her uncomfortable slumber in her seat. She realized that the supposed 'boss' of the orc gang that captured their group was standing in front of her, looking angry, if anything, and frustrated. The undead felt a tooth in her mouth becoming loose from the punch, but thanks to her undead existence, she did not feel any pain.

The surprise punch did feel bad, though.

"Good. Yer 'wake, then." the orc said, looking down at the sitting redhead, his nose sometimes wiggling as he let out angry pig-like _'horks'_ and tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, waiting for Zombina to fully regain her consciousness. "Now, I'll ask again, as it seems last time ye and yer buddies were a bit, shall we say, 'out of it' to gim'me any good ans'ers. So tell me, l'il zombie. Who sent you? Otherwise…" he explained, popping his knuckles, "…ah'll need ta become…'violent.' But ya get this, don'cha? Ya freaks attacked us, afterall. We're simply protectin' our business." He said, pulling up the sleeves of his shirt up, making Zombina snicker, then laugh instead of cry in fear, which was likely what the leader expected, given his surprised reaction.

"What is this, an 80s gangster flick? Give it up, piggie. I'll get out and when I do, I'm ramming my boot into your face and freeing my friends." She spoke with confidence and sarcasm, but inside, deep inside, she felt scared. This was bad. Really bad. And if she couldn't figure out something quickly, both her and the others were done for.

She would have to figure something out.

And her friends' sake.

And hers

* * *

Author's notes: OH TEH NOES! What ever will happen to our heroes and how ever will they overcome this big adversary? Will their story lead somewhere and show character, as well as some personality or development, or will it be just one of those nonsensical fanfics that do nothing with the material given, except add unnecessary things? Find out next time in The M.O.N. Team! See you!


	6. Escape from Pigs

Author's notes: Actually...I don't have anything to say right about now. I hope you all don't hat eme because of how I ended the last chapter. But don't worry, the story's not over yet. This tale of four friends, four monsters, contains a few more twists and turns for you to read through. So, as I always say: "ON WITH THE STORY!"

* * *

Zombina's head was spinning from the amount of punches she received to the face and stomach. She didn't feel pain, but she still felt what the pigs were doing to her, and it wasn't pretty.

Not at all.

She felt every punch and every time, she swore once more that she would destroy these bastards, even if her unlife only lasted that long.

Not because it hurt. It didn't.

But because they got away with it. They could stand there and do all this horrible stuff, that made even an undead like Zombina sick in the stomach and no authority figures, except them, could stop them from doing it. And they were the ones who were now captured and needed someone to save them. But no one would come. Those idiots on the other side of the hill could do nothing, but sit on their buttocks and feel sad they can't help them with anything.

They were, for once, truly alone. No, _she_ was alone. Her friends were taken away, locked up in different cells, each of them differently locked up. They showed him the view from the security cameras they reactivated, showing each one after the other to the zombie girl, hoping they could break her with that.

They showed her Manako, who sat silently in her chair, handcuffs holding her hands behind her back. Doppel, who was cuffed and tied to a chair and her hair braided together and kept in one large bunch by a plastic bag they tied around it. And finally, Tio. For some reason, that was the one that got to Zombina the most. All of her friends' suffering angered the redhead to no end, but as they made her watch, while Tio sat there, weighed down by gigantic concrete bricks and massive chains she was tied down by, her always so happy attitude nowhere to be seen, instead replaced with terror and loneliness at what was being done to her. She could also hear the poor girl calling out the name of the others, calling "Bina-chan" the most, in her pain. The pigs must have noticed this, because the last two hours, nothing else was shown, but Tio. This almost drove Zombina to the edge of insanity. Seeing the cheerful girl in such pain and with fear. She remembered what the ogre told her, about what the "bad people" did with her human caretaker. But she had to remain determined. She knew she would find a way out and pay those pigs back.

And perhaps…a miracle might happen to allow her to escape.

"Listen when I'm ta'kin to ya, bitch!" the leader yelled, landing another punch into her gut, making her head almost hit her knees from the motion. "It'll only drag on forever and will only get worse if ya keep resistin'. So who sent you?!" he asked, prompting Zombina to spit at the floor and grin her usual, sharp-toother smile.

"Sorry, Piglet. No can do. I got no idea what yer talkin' about. Maybe go sniffin' truffles instead." She taunted him, earning a punch straight into her teeth, which sent one tooth flying out of its place, making Zombina feel out the empty spot it left with her tongue.

"Shut yer trap unless yer givin' us actually useful info." The leader shouted, before he walked out of the room, threatening the undead to make it even worse if she still doesn't talk by the time he's back.

Zombina knew she had to figure something out fast, but the straps holding her down were too strong, even for her own superhuman strength. But she couldn't give up. Not at all. Her friends and she herself depended on this, so with all of her strength, she began shaking her body, thrashing against the restraints, wanting to get out like a caged lion that had enough of captivity. But it seemed that her efforts were to no avail. She would suffer for her own incompetence as a leader, it seemed. And suffer long.

Just then, though, as her hands formed fists, as if she was trying to grip at something invisible, something pressed against her fingers and palm. Looking down and turning her hand up, Zombina's eyes widened.

It couldn't be. That would have been too much of a coincidence.

And yet it was.

Clear as day.

In her right hand, slightly embedded into the tough skin of her right palm, was her own tooth, lodged into her hand like a bullet, sticking out ever so slightly.

The amount of joy reaching Zombina's heart made her think her heart would beat again. She wasn't as good as Doppel, when it came to flexibility or breaking out of tough situations, but even she knew the basics. Sharp objects cut things.

She just had to press her palm against the leather strap that held her wrist down, position it so the tooth was against the leather, and start moving her hand left and right. Left, and right. Left, and right. Left, and right. The screeching of leather, as the tooth cut into it, echoed around the room. Luckily, the pigs were all outside, doing something she was sure was as disgusting as they themselves were, as she continued to cut and pull.

After some time, the strap gave way and with a loud _*snap*_ it snapped, allowing the undead to pull her hand out and begin fiddling with the other one.

Just then, the door opened and to her shock, an orc stepped inside, looking like he wanted to check on their prisoner. As soon as he saw Zombina's attempts at escape, he lunged at her, seeing that she had already freed one of her hands, attempting to force her back into the binds.

But no.

Not now.

Not this time.

She would not be forced to watch her friends suffer anymore. She would make them pay for it. Make them pay for hurting them, and make them pay for trying to hurt her.

As the orc moved towards her, she aimed an accurate punch right at his fat chin. Her fist connected with a sickening crack and a moment later, the pig-headed man was on the floor, grasping at his broken chin, as Zombina tore the straps from her other wrist and began fiddling with the ones tying her legs to the chair, when another orc walked in to the sound of his friend whining and grunting. Immediately, that orc recognized the situation too and drew a knife from his belt, aiming a swipe at her. Her fist broke the fall of his hand, hitting right at the wrist, while her other hand hit him straight on the nose. The knife that fell from his hand was caught by her hand and in a moment, her bindings were cut and she stood from her involuntary seat, heading to the desk, where her weapons were placed. She counted herself lucky the leader liked to taunt her with them in the past few hours, while she was tied up.

Kicking the second orc in the face, she held one of her guns to his neck, demanding where the equipment of her friends was. He, of course, quickly told her and the undead was on her way, while some orcs rushed into the room, looking for the sources of the noises. But they only found the incapacitated guards, after which a search swiftly began for the escaped redhead.

Zombina was fast on her feet too. In a few minutes, she managed to find the rooms in which her friends were locked up in and began dishing out justice, to put it her way, to the disgusting pigs that were tormenting them. "Get yer stinkin' hands off of them, ya damn dirty pigs!" She yelled, disposing of the four orcs easily, leaving them crumpled, whining mess on the floor.

Freeing, Doppel first, Zombina instructed the Doppelganger to go and untie Manako, as she went and freed Tio, giving her the monoeye's weaponry. Once inside the ogre's cell, Zombina hugged her tall friend, before giving her a gentle pat on the head and beginning to open the padlocks keeping the chains around her, while repeating "Shh, it'll be okay, Tio," over and over again, wanting to calm the ogre. Once the chains were off, she enveloped Zombina in a nearly bone-crushing hug, managing to press the undead's head right into her cleavage, though not noticing she did, praising her and showering her with grateful affection. If she were alive, Zombina thought, she would be blushing right now. Or suffocating.

"Alright, alright, let her breathe…or…maybe not?" Doppel said, dragging Tio off of her friend and picking up the armor pieces Zombina dropped onto the floor during the hug. "Alright, what do we do?" the brown skinned shapeshifter questioned, looking around. "We still need to break out of here, alive if possible."

"Oh, don't worry." Zombina responded, a sinister grin appearing on her face, while she took the tooth she lost before and pressed it really hard against her gums, essentially forcing it back into its place.

"I have a plan."

* * *

"Leader! We can't find them anywhere!" One of the jiangshi shouted to the orc boss, rushing to his side, informing him of the situation. "I checked the cells, they all escaped!" She reported, looking slightly terrified at the orc's response, which was mostly grunting, cursing and pig-like _hork_ noises.

"Find me those bitches and bring 'em to me. I had jus' enogh of mah time wasted because of 'em!" He ordered, which prompted several of his goons to run and scout through the lower levels of the facility, looking for the four escapees.

"Oh, don't ya worry! We're right here!" a sudden shout came from one of the shadows, shortly after which one of the orcs was sent flying and the jiangshi that rushed to avenge him dropped to the floor, paralyzed by salts.

There they stood, ready for battle, Zombina and Tionishia.

They ran at the horde of opponents, working together, just like during training, but not like it was an exercise. They knew it, if one of them was out of focus, both of them would be, and that would lead to a situation similar to how they started out. Thus, the two girls moved perfectly in sync, shooting and punching their way through the crowd of goons like knife through butter, making sure all sides were checked at every time. Right after Tio punched an orc unconscious, Zombina shot down a jiangshi. Their styles of fighting complimented each other's, offering a perfect balance between the two.

"You idiots! Get them from afar!" The leader exclaimed, pounding the railing he was standing in front of in his anger. He saw many of his men holding their guns, trembling, too scared to try and land a hit on the tall, armored warrior. However, each time one of them raised his gun, soon he plummeted to the ground, unconscious and snoring.

"What…on…Earth?!" the boss cried out, twisting and turning, but never noticing where the shots came from. They looked like they were coming from above, but…no, that was impossible.

Meanwhile, attached to the railing that held the roof of the facility up, sat Manako, taking potshots at anyone she saw, aiming very carefully, so as not to hit her friends on accident. Difference from their previous encounter, however, was that she remained completely silent. Zombina often shouted her directions through their communicator, but the monoeye always aimed, let out a breath, and squeezed the trigger, before watching yet another enemy fall to the ground in a deep sleep, doing all of this without as much as a word. She kept perfectly calm and silent, not giving away her position at any moment.

Rather soon, the only conscious mamono in the facility were Zombina, Tio, Manako and the leader, as well as the jiangshi beside him. The orc decidedly wanted to avoid capture, so after firing off a few rounds from his own machinegun, he bolted for one of the windows, desperate to get to safety as soon as he could. Looking back, he saw the piles of unconscious henchmen he was leaving behind, but against odds like this, he had to consider what he would risk if he stood against them. Surely, escape was the better option, he concluded.

Until his face was met with a quite ill-mannered kick right to his nose, sending him falling back onto his backside, his eyes seeing only a tiny Chinese uniform beyond the red haze that flooded his brain for a few seconds. "W-what the heck?!" he shouted, looking up at the jiangshi that apparently just turned against him.

"Orcs are absolute idiots." Doppel scoffed, dropping her disguise and standing before the man, sticking her tongue out at him. "What do you think I was doing there, standing beside you, twiddling my thumbs the whole time? Though, I guess you weren't doing anything better, you coward." She taunted him, as the group commander arrived to apprehend the orc.

"In the name of the extraspecies-blah-blah, you are, for actions blah-blah-arrested-blah-blah, case in point, don't move, you big damn idiot." Zombina spoke swiftly, aiming her guns at the man, leaving him no choice but to raise his hands. "Oh, Smith is just gonna love this outcome."

* * *

After the dust settled and the cultural exchange security squad began to load the paralyzed and unconscious jiang shi and orcs into the appropriate vechicles, the group gathered in the middle of the room to observe the cleaning process. It went a lot slower than if the criminals could've walked, but this was the best option to keep them under wraps for now, the group reasoned. Their fate would be being deported anyway.

"You guys were doin' great out there! I'm proud of all of ya!" Zombina cheered, stretching her arms above her head with a laugh. "All's well, that ends well, am I right?" she questioned, which somewhat broke down the so far high spirits of the others.

"Could've done without getting my bum kicked first." Doppel interjected, with Manako nodding in approval, and the sad sigh of Tio reaching all three of them.

"It was scary. I don't want to experience it ever again." The gentle giant said, taking off her helmet to face her comrades. "You're my friends and I don't ever want to lose you like this." she continued, gaining only nods of approval from each group member.

"But hey, we fought together and saved the day, didn't we?" Zombina suddenly interjected. "We make a really good team if we work smart together and help each other out. We can do some real good, that no one but us can." She cheered, looking around for signs of agreement.

"You want us to be superheroes?" Doppel asked skeptically, with a hint of sarcasm spicing the "superhero" word.

"Sure, why not? Look, I don't know where I came from or how I became a zombie, but one thing I know, we got these things, these 'abilities' like my immortality or your shapeshifting, and we should use them for something that makes sense. Not just beating on cops, causing traffic jams or ripping off rich guys. Do you want to go back to that?" she asked, to which Doppel only replied by shaking her head. No, she knew it well too. They were a team now. A team of misfits, who could really do some good in this world, though.

"YAAAY! GROUP HUG!" Tio shouted, gathering all three of her friends into a bonecrushing hug by herself, lifting them off their feet and into the air, squealing happily. "Best friends forever!" she shouted proudly, before her eyes widened and with a blush, she added. "Oh, and a kiss for Bina-chan," as her lips found the undead girl's forehead, making her grunt in embarrassment.

"Alright, alright, let go, Tio. I can't breathe!" Zombina said, patting the shoulder of the overjoyed ogre after about ten seconds of tight hugging, but did give her a similar kiss on her cheek with a soft smile, hugging back as much as she and the other two could. Once the happy giantess released them, however, the undead commander took a long look around, her heterochromatic eyes looking for their boss. She expected her to appear soon, along with the rest of the squad to oversee their work. And in due time, of course, that familiar suit and long, straight hair was spotted amongst the other agents.

"Oi, Smith!" the redhead shouted, drawing the coordinator's attention and a soft smile from her. "So, how's the situation with these bastards?" the undead inquired, once they were in talking distance.

"They are getting deported of course, but more importantly, amazing job you four. You can pat yourselves on the back, because our little group has just earned at least a dozen more years to exist, most likely beyond. All thanks to your marvelous work. I'm proud of all four of you." she said, a wide smile now decorating the face that usually carried a lazy grin whenever she could slack off from work. Not this time, though.

"Oh, y'know, Smith. It was all good, since you sent us to handle the situation. We've been built for this, by you, so of course we did it." Zombina said, with Tio's happy nodding as further confirmation.

"Not without issues, but we got it done." Doppel interjected, looking at the mess they had to make in order to accomplish their mission. And, in a rare case of self-confidence, Manako was the one to respond to her opinion. "Still, we managed to do it, together, as a team. I think that is enough to be proud, even if it wasn't perfect."

With Smith's nod of approval, the four began to leave the building, walking proudly after the feat they have accomplished. It wasn't easy, but it was worth the work, now that they made the streets of their beloved city that much safer. Turning back towards her teammates, Zombina continued speaking. "Well, we know why we won and they know why they lost. It was because we're all amazing, and we followed the plan." She paused, before, with a big grin, added.

"And I just love it when a plan comes together."


	7. MON Assemble!

Author's notes: Ah, and here we are. The last chapter (officially). Of course, their adventure has only just begun. Their adventures and misadventures continue in the anime and manga series, tossing color and humor into our daily lives. I have to admit, I'll miss writing this series, but fret not, my dear readers, as after this, I have another project coming soon. Very soon. But for now, I hope you all enjoyed this journey so far and will enjoy this chapter as well. This fine epilogue to my story of five unlikely heroes. Of five confused and sad souls, who find comfort in each other. And in grinding up mafia goons from time to time. A story, of the M.O.N. team.

* * *

*sip* *sip*

Smith calmly drank her morning coffee, once again noting that the young man she came to know as Kurusu Kimihito made a much better coffee than her boss' assistant and to top it all off, he always offered her a cup. This girl, on the other hand, only gave her even a speck of her attention, if Smith directly offered some cash at the end. Of course, this was one of the reasons she hated being in the office of "Chief of Security Staff" Aho Takuya. Not only did the man unsurprisingly live up to his family name, being a complete and utter idiot of a man, but he seemed to not really like her and thus use any and all opportunities to berate her, tell her how she did her job bad and how he should have her job to "show those idiots how this is really done." Yeah, Smith was not a fan of this man.

However, today, something changed.

Today, she saw a taller, older gentleman, with an obviously higher status than Aho's, something which not Smith was the only to notice, came into the building, asking to see chief Aho. Soon, as the man walked into his office, Smith was called in as well. What she got was quite the mouthful.

"Please, chief Aho. Tell coordinator Smith what your report was to me. Exactly as it was." He said to the visibly terrified idiot sitting at his desk. "The things you gave me seemed quite interesting." He said, raising an eyebrow sternly at the man.

"A-ah, y-yes sir. I-in my report, I informed you, that the coordinator has put together an unstable and very volatile group of mamono, something she clearly has no control over and therefore, I wanted to disband this group, giving the example of the botched incident out at the old facility two days ago, and rebuild it with trained and capable agents. I have to give credit to Smith, her idea of a monster group to deal specifically with monster criminals is admirable and a nice thought, but the dangerous group of mercenaries she glued together is nothing more than a timebomb that will explode after some time, if we do not disarm it. For good." He said, droplets of sweat trickling down his forehead and face, while Smith had to hold herself back from smirking.

"Yes. Quite alright. Now, coordinator. I received reports from both you and many other agents, who were present at the time, especially since chief Aho referenced this exact case in his complaint." The older man, revealing himself to be director of the Exchange Security Forces, Hayama Takeo, explained, looking at Smith directly, as if Aho was nothing more but some dirt sitting on the chair, soon to be cleaned up. "So I would like to know what your specific report is on this case, Miss Smith."

The coordinator waited, thinking about what she should say. Should she chew Aho out and ask for him to be fired? That would be a fitting end. But to be fair, she had to admit the mission could've gone better. Her heart almost broke when she witnessed the capture and lockup of her saved partners, but she could do nothing to help them. They were not perfect, but they surely weren't the volatile disaster the chief painted them as. She had to choose her words carefully. Taking off her sunglasses, the long haired woman spoke clearly and calmly, doing an effort not to reflect the mental conflict she felt.

"Well, director, I have to admit, that parts of what chief Aho is saying I actually agree with." She started, spotting a small tinge of hope on the man's face, before she relentlessly continued. "My team is still fresh, was never tested in a live situation and still needs some time to truly be perfected. As do the girls to bond with each other. This was their first mission and they almost failed, but what matters to me, is that in the end, they are all safe and succeeded, completing their mission with hard work. To describe them as volatile and out of control is wrong. I would simply call them imperfect." She concluded, not a small sign of emotion on her face as she finished.

"Hm, quite interesting." The director noted, putting a hand to his mouth. "Well, in that case, I would like to receive frequent reports of their development." He said, before turning back to the other man. "And could you please send me a paper with your suggestion for a replacement officer to your position, please?" That last sentence shocked the chief.

"W-wait, what?! You're firing me? You can't fire me! I've been doing my job here for months, working hard to keep this city and the monsters within safe." He began, voice rising in pitch and tone.

"Oh, you are not fired, Mr. Aho. I am simply moving you to a new division, seeing as how you are clearly inexperienced with security teams. It is okay, though. I am sure we have an appropriate position for you." He said, sounding much more patient, than Smith imagined he should've, but she really didn't care.

All that mattered was that she and the girls were safe now.

* * *

*sip* *sip* *sip*

In another part of town, in another building, in another room, four mamono women were sitting around a table, each one sipping a different kind of drink. Zombina had her bottle of beer (despite the inability to get drunk due to her undead state, she quite enjoyed the taste), a glass of water for Manako, a non-alcoholic cocktail for Doppel and a giant, bucket sized glass of orange juice for Tionishia. From time to time, one of them said something and the others responded. It was boring, but after what they lived through a few days ago, it was currently the most relaxing thing they could do.

"You'll call me a sicko, but I almost can't believe that we actually did it." Zombina suddenly said, taking a swig from her drink. "I mean, not that I think we're losers, but we almost lost that right there." She sighed, looking into her bottle with a sad expression.

"I think there's some luck in it, but in the end, we won and that's important." Doppel interjected, taking a sip from hers. "No matter what, we're a team and we made it…somehow. All we can do is learn from it, develop and get better at what we do." She said, feeling somewhat out of the mood to be joking around like she usually did. Something changed within her, at least for a time. When she saw her friends and herself being brought down by those idiotic orcs and jiangshi, she felt…scared…hurt, even. But no more. Nobody will hurt her friends ever again and get away with it.

"Doppel is right. W-we managed to pull through, even if it was hard." Manako said, her shy voice filled with determination, even if it was still far too quiet compared to that of the others. "We can do this, if we do it together." She said, taking another sip, while looking around at the other three. These mamono were more to her than friends now. They were comrades and, if Manako really considered it, a family too. Well, sort of. She guessed that would make them sisters and the things she saw Zombina and Tio doing in the past few days together seemed…inappropriate between sisters, to say the least. Their personal connection was never open for talk between them, but Manako wasn't stupid. She saw the signs. How the two looked at each other, how they talked to each other. Her big eye was useful in spotting small things from a distance, and that was just what she did with this one. She guessed they would have to simply call each other 'friends' then, but she suspected something more. Maybe…"more friends"? No, sounds stupid. Or "more than friends?" Even worse, it's dirty. What do humans call this? "True friends?" Manako had to think that would be good enough.

*gulp* *gulp* *gulp* came the happy noises from Tio, as she took bigger and bigger _'sips'_ from her own drink, not knowing really what she could add to the situation, therefore deciding to remain silent instead. Silence, as much as she didn't like being unheard, sounded like a good thing right now. Her past few days have been a hassle, to say the least, but she was confident they could make it. Determined to show them what she was worth. And cuddling them throughout their ordeals, if they needed it. She needed to do her best, but she knew she wasn't alone now. She had friends now, who, for better or for worse, would shape her life as it was and this put a great joy onto her. The thought of not being alone anymore. The thought of not having to fight whatever Ms. Smith told her alone. The thought of having friends. Real friends now. People she could trust and put her life on the line for, knowing they would always be with her, no matter what. And that made Tio incredibly happy.

The four of them sat, chatting on about their current situation, the fate of their little group and what they individually hoped to achieve. Each of them had something different to say, but on one thing, they agreed. They liked this new environment. Especially their team, and the home they have because of it. And they all decided to work their hardest to keep it this way. To allow themselves a way of life that brings both them and Smith happiness. They all owed her, afterall. Owed her their new lives as not runaways, dangerous criminals, thieves and confused, scared monsters, but respected agents of an organization, that helps keep people safe and works for the betterment of human and monster life.

And they all knew how important that was, to both them, and everyone else.

* * *

The report came in after about an hour of time had passed since the coordinator's meeting with her superiors. Of course, she left as soon as possible, not wanting to witness Aho's sobbing breakdown at the removal of authority from his hands. Some people were born for greatness. Others…just wanted some power to feel good about themselves, not willing to work for it. But what did she care anyways? Now, she had another job to deal with. And she knew how it would be best solved. It would be easy, compared to the previous one.

Six orcs, invading a shop. Something the girls could pull off in their sleep. In a few moments, Smith called them all up and they began to prepare. Planning was done quite quickly, as the coordinator already had an idea forming in her head. There were hostages, some guns, of course, and they had to account for the orcs' s incredible smelling abilities. Still, she would manage it well.

Zombina's mind was running wild as she attached her uniform and took her favorite submachineguns, attaching them to her belt. She took a pair of goggles and snapped them on, making sure they fit well. This would sure mean fun. She was not supposed to kill anybody, but the orcs' tough hide would mean they were almost bulletproof, only feeling the bullets as they hit them, with no damage almost. And she was using lower caliber rounds. Still, she could use her aggression against these assholes with abandon, which she found was actually a nice change of pace compared to the mindless rage she felt the first time she woke up. That wasn't her. No. Whatever came before… _this_ …wasn't her. She had her life now, and she had to deal with it as she could. Good thing, she had her friends and…Tio. Once they were finished, she'd take her and show her a zombie movie. Or maybe not. Tio hated some of that kinda stuff. But she was always happy to do things with her friends, and her especially, so she guessed it'd be fine.

Manako strapped her own uniform on and put her rifle together from it's parts, all the while thinking about the current mission. She'd get long range, as before. It was easier now, though. Much easier. Few targets, not too long of a distance, only 2 km-s. She could do it. She would need to do it alone, but she knew, being the sniper of the group was that kind of job. She would help her friends and they'd accomplish it together. In the end, they'd celebrate with a feast, which brought a smile to the monoeye's face. Yes. She would have fun with her friends. Something she always enjoyed.

Tio strapped on her humongous armor. Something she'd need when her part came. She would break through the wall and help the hostages escape. She would protect people. That's what her thoughts focused around. She would help her friends to save people. Save people, who would look strangely at her if they came across the ogre normally, but at this very moment, she and the team was their only hope. And she would save them. Afterall, that was their job.

Hmmmmm. It felt good.

Very good.

*munch*

Doppel popped her knuckles, as she took on her disguise, getting ready to infiltrate. Those idiots wouldn't even know what hit them. In one moment, they'd see some helpless girls trying to free the hostages in vain, in the next, BAM! She'd strike without warning and make sure they learn their lesson. She'd help her friends, and have fun tormenting those pig-faced bastards. She would show them what she was made of. While helping and protecting her friends. People she cared about more, than she ever did anyone before. And she was kinda helping others in the process too. That was kinda neat.

They arrived at their assigned positions in time, with Manako hurrying up the stairs of a building over 2 km-s away from their target building, carrying her enormous rifle, with slight huffs and puffs from her throat. Doppel took her position near the side entrance of the building, her disguise kept intact by her willpower, droplets of sweat trickling down her forehead, her brain constantly recalling the plan and the order things had to happen in. Tio took place among the policemen, acting as if she was a regular heavy trooper. The fact she stood out with her inhuman height made some of the policemen raise an eye or two, but they simply assumed that she was of a different branch of the police, with her uniform, not raising too many red flags. Zombina was climbing in through one of the ventilation exits that led out through one of the walls of the establishment. She followed the plan perfectly too, to the letter. As she got deeper and deeper into the building, her thoughts circled once more over the plan. She'd be the perfect distraction, along with Doppel. It would work perfectly and they'd accomplish this in no time.

"Well, showtime."

* * *

Author's Notes: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd that concludes our story of "A M.O.N. Team"! WOOOOOOOOO! I hope you all enjoyed this tale of four monsters, as they find themselves, and each other, through tales and troubles, eventually finding friends, a family (sort of) and some love too. This was great fun to write and I hope you like it too. Just so you know, again, I am working on something else at the moment, so do not fret, this is not the end of your dear friend, the Writer. But, I will also consider taking requests from now on, if anyone would like to see a piece written in my specific style, send me a private message, tell me what you'd like me to write for you and if I like it, and have time, I'll write it. Don't be afraid. Otherwise, if you liked this story, please rate and review, if you'd like and don't if you wouldn't, otherwise, this is me, Writer of Chaos, saying, have a nice everyday life with monstergirls!


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